Brussels, Belgium!

I grew up wondering about this beautiful city. My family lived here in the 90s and I was born here but we moved back to Zimbabwe when I was 4 years old. I love my home country but I was always curious about this little land where I was said to have been born. I remember reading books and learning French for this sole purpose, to get closer to Belgium. I said a prayer that went something like this "Oh Lord, please let me visit Belgium one day!" God being faithful, He answered my prayer!

I was studying in Poland and I got the opportunity to do an exchange program in any European country of my choice. Belgium was my first choice (Croatia and Germany were second and third). I am now studying in Hasselt which is 30 minutes from Holland. I will do a separate post about Hasselt, but for now I will talk about Brussels, the capital city of Belgium.

It is very multicultural and I was quite pleased to see that. It is predominantly French speaking and I had the opportunity to practise the little French I learnt throughout high school and part of university. I have to say though, spoken French is very different from text book/school French. The pronunciation and phrases may confuse you. For example, I asked someone for directions and he told me "Tout droit" which I thought meant 'continue on the right', but actually means 'straight ahead'. It might be wise to carry a dictionary with you :)

I love the food here! Their bakeries have the tastiest treats like croissants filled with chocolate and or custards and beautiful chocolate bread. Belgium is of course the country of chocolate, fries and waffles, but can we talk about the waffles for a bit? Here you'll find the softest inside and crunchiest outside waffles you can imagine. You also have to try the bicky burger, its so tasty. Belgian chocolate is often imported so I found that I had tasted a lot of the chocolate I see here. My current favourite is Cote d'Or Lait which has a smoked flavour to it. They often eat their fries with a beef stew made with beer which they call Stoovlees. You also have to try their mussels! ohh just eat it all, you have to!

The shopping places here are plentiful. Brussels doesn't have the large shopping malls that are typical in some countries. Instead it has streets and streets filled with all the big brand shops from Louis Vuitton, Prada and Marc Jacobs to the common Zara and H&M brands. Its a pleasure to walk down these streets and take in the atmosphere. There's also an African area called Matonge, which is full of African markets, restaurants, nightclubs as well as hair salons.

Brussels itself has a lot of historical places. Its not a huge city so you can go around most of it in about 5 days. I recommend taking the bus because you won't see much on the metro or train. There are plenty of outdoor cafes and restaurants when its sunny. Make sure you take a rain jacket or umbrella because the weather changes a lot throughout the day.

Have you visited Brussels or any other city in Belgium? Please let me know what you thought of the experience :) !