2025, a recap - Belgium

During the final three months of 2025 I was based in Brussels, Belgium. I started work as an English assistant with the British council in higher education in schools in Brussels and Charleroi. I moved into a room in Brussels. I visited other cities in Belgium and further afield. I tried out a range of different activities in Brussels and met lots of new people.

My first couple of weeks in Belgium mostly involved getting the practicalities sorted out and settling in. My top priority was finding somewhere to live so I was out viewing apartments in different parts of the city in the first couple of days until I found somewhere suitable and signed a lease. I also bought a bicycle from Facebook Marketplace and then all the bits that go with it from Decathalon. I had a training day with the rest of the language assistants in Belgium and then initiation days at each of my schools. I had to figure out the trains to Charleroi and get to know the routes around Brussels. It was the biggest struggle cycling to work at the beginning because I had to stop every 5 minutes to make sure I was going in the right direction. Eventually I worked out a route which required far less turns, even if it took a couple of minutes longer according to Maps. I was also getting to know the route to the train station, where the nearest supermarkets were and generally exploring the local area.

I was keen to get out and start meeting people as soon as possible. I tried out a lot of the events on Meetup, a platform that promotes all kinds of events and activities in your local area. I went to Italian conversation, social nights, French conversation, board games, language exchanges and coffee meetups. Of these, the one that really stuck was Saturday night board games which is a friendly group with a different selection of games every time and I always seem to have a great time. I now know a lot of the people who go which is nice and I go whenever I've got no other plans on Saturday night. I also joined the Brussels Scottish country dance group. At first I found it a bit heavy on the technique and slow on the dance learning but I've got used to the pace of the classes and I've got to know the people who go better and now I really love it. There are lots of young people who go which is always nice and often not the case with Scottish dance. I was able to go to a full day workshop and evening dance with them at the end of October which I really enjoyed.

Halloween Party

At the weekends or whenever I had a free day and the weather was decent I went on some day trips to other parts of Belgium. I explored Brugges, Dinant, Ostend, Liège, Leuven and Namur. I particularly enjoyed Dinant which I visited with some of the other language assistants from my school in Charleroi. It is a small and very picturesque town in the south with an impressive citadel. The river Muse runs through the centre of the town. It is also the birthplace of Adolph Sax and so there are lots of saxophone statues and a saxophone museum. We spent a lot of the day exploring the citadel which is perched on the cliffs high above the town, up a lot of stairs. The citadel is very well preserved and they have really interesting exhibits inside.

Dinant Citadel

I also spent some time exploring different areas of Brussels. One of my favourite trips was a cycle ride out to Atomium in the North of Brussels. Although I'm still not entirely sure of its purpose, Atomium is an iconic structure and it was nice to go and see it in person. I really enjoyed cycling around the parkland in this area. The autumn colours were lovely and it was good to get away from the hustle and bustle of the centre for a few hours. In December the Christmas markets started and I enjoyed going round the Brussels market with friends. We went on the big wheel and had a fantastic view of the city all lit up at night.

In Charleroi the school organised a guided tour of the city for us. This was great as it allowed me to see some of the more interesting parts. Charleroi doesn't have the best reputation and its not the most exciting place but it's also not all bad and I think not as bad as people make out! The town hall is a beautiful building with some very ornate rooms inside. Inside you can see "the giants of Charleroi" which are a group of figurines, around four and a half metres tall, of various known people from history and folklore. There is also a cool metro station which is designed to replicate the world of the Belgian comic Lucky Luke with cacti down the centre and mosaics on the walls. It was interesting to also explore the upper town which I don't usually visit and to learn a bit about the history of the city.

I spent a day at Walibi, one of the largest theme parks in the country. It is in Wavre, just outside Brussels. The park has a lot of roller coasters and when I went it was during Halloween season so they had scare zones, haunted houses and horror shows going on too. I'm not the biggest fan of roller coasters but I was with someone I didn't know very well and I didn't want to seem too pathetic so I faced a lot of fears that day! We started with the biggest roller coaster which was just as well because I think if I'd had too much time to think about it I would've chickened out and also it made the rest of the rides seem easier! I only refused three rides so I think I did pretty well but I was definitely well outside my comfort zone for most of the day! My favourite ride was probably the Splash-Back which is a water ride around a circuit in a raft. I also liked the Vampire which I almost decided not to do because it's one of those ones where you're suspended in the air with your legs dangling down and it had a couple of tight loops but it actually turned out to be very smooth and not bad at all! On the other hand I particularly hated the Turbine which is a roller coaster in the dark which takes you round so many loops it feels like you're being churned up inside a washing machine. I also absolutely hated the Cobra which is a big loopy roller coaster which takes you very slowly up and up to alarming heights at a vertical angle before releasing you backwards at high speed. Horrible! The horror show was really fun and the actors were great with fantastic costumes, dancing, singing and acrobatics. An overall good experience that I don't need to repeat too often!

During the October holidays I went on a trip to Amsterdam with a couple of friends. Although I had been to Amsterdam before it had been quite a while and this was quite a different experience. I really enjoyed the vibe of the city with the canals and the bicycles. We went on a day trip to see the windmills, a clog factory, a cheese factory and a fishing village. It was a great day out and it was nice to see a bit of the surrounding area and not just Amsterdam itself. The windmill village was very picturesque. At the clog factory I was chosen as the person who looked "the most Dutch" and gifted the clog he'd made as a demonstration with my name and a windmill engraved in the side. I sampled so much cheese at the cheese factory and bought some mature Gouda to take home with me. All in all a successful holiday!

At the beginning of December I went down to Paris for the weekend to visit a friend from Corsica who's studying there this year. It was so nice to catch up and to see her new life in Paris. We went to the Musée d'Orsay as well as the Paris Christmas markets and the covered passages around the city. We also went to the bar at the Moulin Rouge and a Jazz club in an old station which was very cool. Being in Paris made me realise that Brussels is actually quite small!

Finally, just before heading home for Christmas, I went on a day trip to Luxembourg. It's quite a long way, nearly 3 hours by train, but it only cost 11 euros for the return trip and Luxembourg is an expensive place to stay in so it was a good opportunity! I wanted to go during December because I'd heard there was a nice Christmas market there. Sure enough, the Christmas decorations were lovely. The city was quite different to how I'd imagined it architecturally and it was interesting to see the different cultural and linguistic influences in the country. There wasn't a huge amount to do there so a day was enough to see the sights and get a feel of the place. The weather wasn't the best but I'd been waiting ages for a nice day and it never came so I just had to go anyway!

On the 20th of December I flew back to Scotland for the Christmas holidays where I had a relaxing couple of weeks going for walks, playing tennis and eating good food. In the lead up to the new year I worked a few shifts at the Edinburgh Hogmanay events. This included the torchlight parade, a candlelit concert in St Giles Cathedral and the street party. It was exciting to be a part of these world renowned events which are attended by so many thousands of people. I had a front row view of the vikings as they set off with their massive flaming torches leading the torchlight parade. I also got to join the street party to watch the fireworks at the castle from Princess Street and sing Auld Lang Syne with the whole street at midnight. A good way to see in the new year!