We had orientation for all new students today. To say the least, it was very, well, European. MUCH different than my freshman year orientation in "America" as everyone says here.
1) We had tour guides (called "buddies") that showed us around the campus...while mine was amusing, she had minimal knowledge about campus life (Try getting away w/ that
Blue Key members). She DID know a lot about bars though, which leads me to...
2) There are bars on campus. In fact, our first evening orientation activity was to meet at a bar. on campus. This bar party was advertised openly by the administration. There is also a "bar hop" being advertised for Friday evening. And the professor in charge of orientation simply asked that we not get "too plastered to attend the tour of Brussels the following day."
3) Everyone smokes. EVERYONE. my host parents smoke, my tour guide lit up at least two cigarettes while giving the tour. Every OTHER tour guide was smoking as soon as we got outside. And they still let people smoke inside restaurants and such. Helloooo Belgium.
4) As mentioned in my prior post, if you don't know at least 3 languages here, it seems you are somehow incompetent. My tour guide was from Holland and spoke Dutch, French, and English. Maybe more than that...who knows...On the bright side, this trilingual tendency means that people can speak English. Always a plus. I went to a store today and bought a cell phone + sim card with Dave, who also lives w/ my host family, and we immediately found someone who spoke (almost) perfect English. SO nice.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment