A Pakistani girl in Ghent, Belgium

Hi, I'm Anadil and I'm currently doing my Erasmus internship at a company in Ghent. This is my Erasmus story...

July 22nd was the day I landed in Belgium and reached Ghent. After crying all night from fear of going to a new place, I reluctantly boarded the plane and landed at the Brussels-Charleroi airport. The airport was very small and basic, but with high security and the atmosphere was already different from what I was used to in Istanbul, where I had just finished my Master's degree.

In Istanbul, people were always in a rush and would hardly smile at you. In Belgium however, it was a completely different story: people were too welcoming and smiling all the time. It made me feel at ease, considering how much my friends in Istanbul had warned me that the "Europeans are very cold". I was glad that the statement had been proved wrong... till now at least.

As soon as I got free from baggage claim, I began my search for an Orange sim but there was no vendor at the airport. To get to Ghent from the airport, I took a Flibco bus ticket, which cost me 19 euros. The buses leave on time so one should make sure to reach the terminal at the right time. The journey took around 01H20M and the bus driver dropped us at the St. Pieters station in Ghent. From there I took a taxi to the house I would be staying at. Tip: taxi meters start at 8 euros in Europe so please do not argue with the driver like I did.

And so began my first day in Ghent, on which I also missed Istanbul the most. Istanbul has my heart: the hustle and bustle of the city on one side, but the landscape, greenery, and beauty of that city are like no other. Istanbul is magical, it really is. There is no other word to describe the feeling you get when you take the ferry over the Bosphorus and the seagulls fly with you, or when you walk alongside the sahil (seaside) and hear the Simitci shouting out the prices of the cheesy pogaca, and the freshly baked simit he is selling. But this blog is not about Istanbul: this is about how I adjusted in a city like Ghent which felt like a rehabilitation center with its grey and white walls, very less greenery, small houses, and highly automated grocery stores.

Needless to say, I did not like Ghent on my first day; in fact, I was willing to fly back to Istanbul the very next day. But something in my mind told me to wait and see...

Below are some pictures I took on the first day when I walked for 3 hours in the city non-stop out of depression

Photo gallery