Trip to Brussels

Hello Everyone,

It is now time for another blog entry, especially considering I am done with my finals (although I still have a 6 page paper (in English) due at the week for Cinema.) I had a good Thanksgiving last Thursday with friends in the Paris program. We had a nice big Turkey, just like at home, but no typical cranberry sauce or anything else American. In fact, in general, it was a pretty French meal. Who has a Thanksgiving dinner with a quiche? Or with cheese after the meal? Seems pretty French to me (not that I mind.)

The biggest thing I did since my last entry is the trip to Brussels, where I met up with a Stanford friend (Shine) who is studying in Moscow. I got up early Friday morning to catch the 3 1/2 hour bus ride (without traffic) to Brussels. (Very random fact: Belgium is the only country in the world where all freeways have streetlamps.) And I got there to this, the main square:



One thing Brussels is very well known for is its chocolate as well as its waffles. And, chocolate waffles are also quite good (but beware of eating two in one day. One’s stomach can feel it…) Shine and I went to the Chocolate Museum, to discover, among other things, that Switzerland eats the most chocolate per capita (followed by Germany and then Belgium.) Also, we saw a demonstration of how pralines are made, which the following picture is of. But, as always with chocolate, the samples we received where the best part.


Shine and I went around much of Brussels for many hours, definitely tiring our feet, but that is what travelers in Europe do, even when the cities have excellent public transit systems. Besides seeing the Museum of Ancien Arts, we also saw the main cathedral, which had a wonderful display of nativity scenes. Along the sides of the cathedral we about 20 different scenes, and they were all made by different Roman Catholic communities living in Brussels from around Europe (and a couple globally.) For me, the most amazing was the following one from the Slovakian display (the flag can be seen on the far right.)

It is definitely the holiday season in Europe. Even back here in Paris, lights are going up all over and flash throughout the night. In Brussels, l’Hôtel de Ville (the city hall) has a light show that can be seen on the main square. The following picture is of it in nice Christmas colours.

Brussels, by most definitions, would be considered the capital of Europe. Most of the European Institutions are headquartered in Brussels, especially the bureaucracy. For me, it was surprising to see such a relatively small and not-as-famous (both compared to Paris) city be such an important capital (and one with increasing significance.) Also, all the European Union headquarters are not very near the centre of the city and are located off to the side in their own separate area, completely out of the way. This was a bit surprising to me as someone who took the class here on the European Union and listened to my professor go on about the importance of the EU. Brussels is definitely a nice European city, with parks like this:


One of the first things a visitor will notice about Brussels and Belgium in general is the use of French and Dutch (and often English) everywhere. Coming from such a single language country, it was a bit of a shock for me. Although it may seem like the languages co-exist quite peacefully, there is lots of history with the French-speaking minority controlling Belgium for many years over the Dutch-speaking majority. For a long time, the French ruling class imposed French as a national language and treated Dutch-speakers as second-class citizens, giving them court trials in French, which they couldn’t understand. Even though Dutch was finally recognized as an official language in 1898, the Constitution of Belgium wasn’t even legally translated into Dutch until 1967. Today, Belgium is definitely a confederation with both the French speaking and Dutch speaking regions having a considerable amount of autonomy, and with the capital, Brussels, being the only bilingual region.

I have to say, when I first learned how the French minority subjugated the Dutch majority, my first reaction was: it is the opposite of South Africa and the Afrikaans community. This is probably a comparison not often made (and for decent reason as well.)

Speaking of South Africa, kudos to President Jacob Zuma of South Africa for announcing on AIDS day that he will provide HIV-positive babies with proper medication. This is definitely a step in the right direction, especially for a country that has had difficulties coming to grip with the AIDS epidemic. Also, this news is especially surprising considering Zuma is announcing it. A couple years ago when Zuma was a Minister of Health (or something like that), Zuma was accused of raping a family friend, which he was eventually acquitted for. (It must be noted: Zuma has multiple wives.) However, during the trail, it was revealed that the family friend had HIV, and Zuma knew about it and still had unprotected sex. In his defense, Zuma stated that it was ok because he had taken a shower afterwards. Such mis-information from a government minister? It is where I will be next quarter…

And a final picture from Brussels, the famous statue of the boy:

Before I say a bientôt, two quick pieces of news. One, tomorrow my mom and step-dad arrive as I finish up the quarter. After the quarter is over, we will get to spend two nights in Normandy as I say goodbye to France. Second, this upcoming Spring, I will officially be studying in Oxford (after Cape Town.)

A bientôt,
-Andrew