Erasmus Experience in Gent, Belgium by Iratxe

Why did you choose to go to Gent, Belgium?

Because it has one of the best architecture universities.

How long is the scholarship? How much money do you receive to help you with living costs?

The scholarship is for 10 months and I get 3 grants that keep me going plus parents help.

What is the student lifestyle like in Gent?

It is a lively student city, on academic period the city gathers 30. 000 students added to the 60. 000 habitants. There are Belgium students, who live in kots normally, sharing kitchen and bathroom and go back home on weekends, where they have their laundry done and they get food supply, and there are international students too that stay on weekends and normally are quite active travelling or partying.

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Would you recommend the city and the University of Gent to other students?

I would definitely recommend the city, it is beautiful, there is lots of interesting people (and everyone speaks English), and it has the ability of being either nice and calmed or with a hard night life, depending your mood.

There are two universities here, UGhent is the big one, and then there is KULeuven-Sint Luca, which is just for artistic studies, as arts, architecture or interior design. I just can talk about Sint Luca, which is a good school, where skills are learnt by practice mostly (sometimes this can make organization a bit messy). It is very focused on sustainable affairs, just as the whole city is.

What is the food like?

If you ask a Belgium what is the famous traditional food they will first say french fries, then they will follow with waffles and for ending chocolate. If you ask further (which is recomendable) they have also very nice soups, sausages, meat balls, mussels and sea food. You can just feed yourself with crap as easily as with healthy food. For good fresh food the best is to go to the Friday morning market of Vrijdagmarkt and fruit is good at a couple of stores in Bij Sint-Jacobs.

They have a weird thing with the meals, they say they only have warm food once a day, normally for dinner. They have lunch from 12 to 13 and they have dinner from 7 to 8, more or less.

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When it comes to alcohol they have pretty good beers and ciders. Some good Belgium brands are "Delirious tremens", "Duvel", "Leffe", "Vedett", "Chimay"... (there are more than a thousand) but the most common and basic one is Jupiler. They also drink warm wine on Winter.

Did it cost you to find your accommodation in Gent?

Finding accommodation can be complicated. Internet may help but its also dangerous, cause sometimes you don't get what they sell. The best way of getting a place is to go to the city, rent a bike or have a walk and start calling for the adds that are posted at the Windows of places in rent.

"Te huur" means to rent, sometimes they add "studenten kamel" (room for students). Mostly they are Kots, meaning rented rooms of an old building that has being adequate for the matter and have shared kitchens and toilets. It is not compulsory for the private owner to put an oven at the kitchen, but it is to put a microwave and a fridge (even if normally students have those at their rooms). The private owners normally rent the places for 12 months and ask for 2 months of deposit (be skeptical if they ask for more).

Don't take a place till something convinces you and dont discourage, cause you may see a lot of shitty places (showers in the kitchen shouldn't be allowed). The owner should also have fire safety issues solved.

There are also studio rooms, which can be a little more expensive but everything is private.

Another option is to have apartments, which normally are shared because they are too expensive for only one user.

Here house tipology is a very narrow building with 2 to 3 floors, with a Little back garden, so it is also an option to share one of those. This is a very good solution because normally there is one room per floor, and that gives a lot of privacy too, and the ground level has a kitchen and a Little living área. This last one is a very good option but, unfortunately is not easy to find.

How much does it cost to live in Gent?

Living in Ghent is not specially cheap but, you can manage to find cheap supermarkets or markets. Second hand market is very wide and high quality option in this city. Also, you can get benefit of being a student. KUL Sint Luca offers sport activity coupons for the whole year (24€), coupons for any swimming-pool in the city (9€ for 10 times), tickets to cinema for 3€ (normally is 10€)...

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Is the language easy to get to grips with? Are there language courses available in the University?

The language is hard. Really hard. KUL Sint Luca offers a good deal with a language school to learn Dutch.

Everyone speaks English though, every single person. They also know french and some of them get German (they are genius with languages).

What's the easiest or most economical way to travel to Gent from your city?

From Bilbao to Ghent the most economical and easiest way is to get a bus Bilbao-Santander. Fly with Ryanair to Brussels Charleroi airport and then get the direct bus Charleroi-Ghent Sint Pieters station. You can also go from Charleroi to Brussels Midi train station on bus and then catch a train (with luck the direct one) to Ghent Sint Pieters. If you are doing this last trip try it with the Go Pass (inside the country every train costs 5. 1€ with Go Pass). If you have luck and take it with advance you might get a cheap flight Bilbao-Brussels central, where you can catch a direct train to Ghent Sint Pieters.

Where would you recommend to go on a night out in Gent?

There are plenty of places to go. You may start calmly with a couple of beers in some bar around Langemunt, then change to around Sint Jacobs church, there are some bars with louder music, maybe to dance too; Giraf, Charlatan... If you still want more don't hesitate on going to Overpoort. (If you are checking for home and you are not "party all day all night" don't get one at Overpoort).

When weather is good it is also very nice to start the night in Graslei; there is a Little shop opened till 2 at Korenmarkt that sells beers mostly, in a cheap Price, and it is common to get some beers there and drink them at Graslei, sitting at the channel.

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And for eating? Can you recommend some good restaurants in Gent?

Be careful with restaurants, it is very easy to get an unfortunate surprise when paying. There are some good and affordable places too, but there are some very high priced (and not that good) places. In the center there is Hema, it seams a shop but its a restaurant with good and cheap meals upstairs, and you get a paperboard to fill with stamps to get the 7th meal for free.

There is also a very good soup place Zuivelbrugstraat, its name is "Soup Lounge", where you basically get a bowl of soap with small meatballs, cheese, veggies... some bread and butter and an Apple (small soap is 3. 5€ and middle size 4. 5€).

If you like italian food there is an original italian restaurant at Hoogstraat with affordable prices, called "Giardino di Roma".

Anyway, for higher economies the best quality/Price place is probably "Du progres" at Korenmarkt but it requires reservation.

For vegetarians, there is a restaurant at Ougburg Street that has some tables on the channel called "Panda".

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

The city center is historical medieval, it has great architecture. All the channel sides are beautiful. If the weather is good it is very nice to go and see Ghent's beach and the park that is around it. It also has interesting museums but, probably the best are the cultural activities. When they get good weather they just go out on the streets and have Little concerts, markets (those are always there), pianos on the Street so people can play if they wish. When weather gets tougher that means that Christmas is coming and so they build a beautiful Christmas market in the whole center that lasts from the beginning of December to the end of January.

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Is there any other advice that you could give to future students who are going to Gent?

Travel all you can at the beginning of the semesters, Belgium is pretty much the center of Europe right now and it is easy to get cheap trips from Brussels or just around Belgium (north of France, French side of Belgium, German side of Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, England and the Netherlands) and just enjoy yourself!