"The end is nigh" - Mount Law-Work has almost been conquered

Well it's been three weeks since discovering that my course is actually taught at masters level, and there has been plenty of associated stress since then! Luckily for my sanity my girlfriend flew over for a final visit before I move back to Dundee so there was plenty of fun and non-law excitement mixed in too.

Law news first...I've had my final class in Antwerpen! I can't believe it's been a year already, it doesn't seem that long ago that I was getting lost and confused by everything in September. Although it's a relief to have finished my classes so I can focus on my External Relations and Globalisation term papers and get started on revision for the upcoming exam season, I have to say I'm going to miss some of my modules. Discrimination was interesting despite the four hour classes at 8.30am, and Protection of Human Rights with Vandenhole was fantastic. Having had Vandenhole for both Children's Rights and Protection of Human Rights, I definitely recommend taking any subject he's teaching - there might be a fair amount of reading but his teaching style is really enjoyable and you really don't notice how much work you end up doing for his classes.

After a fairly uneventful 10 days (the high point was the conclusion of my WTO course - hallelujah) my girlfriend arrived so I could finally have some time off from law. As it was her birthday a few days before, I'd bought her a copy of Le Cordon Bleu's Chocolate Bible, so after doing the food shop we got to work creating the most heavenly chocolate-orange mousse. Seriously, that was one utterly heavenly mousse. The chocolate, the hint of orange, the textual delight of thin slices of caramelised orange rind swirled through the mousse...mmm. Note to self - make again soon!

Since the weather was so nice on the Thursday we picnicked in Plantentuin and went to MoMu to have a look at their latest exhibition on women's daily fashion between 1750 and 1950. The exhibition is on until 12th August so if you're in Antwerpen over the summer it's definitely worth a look - and it's only €1 for under 26's. Unfortunately my Discrimination presentation was postponed from the week before due to a clash with a visiting lecturer in Private Law, so Friday was spent with me quietly stressing over my presentation before having to abandon my girlfriend for three hours (instead of the supposed two) on my campus while I went and presented my paper. The presentation seemed to go okay despite my mega-nerves so fingers crossed for the final exam now!

As a delightful counter to the stress of the day before, we headed to Gent on Saturday to complete our tour of Flanders. After some confusion over train times (the Internet gave a different time to the timetable at Station Zuid) we arrived in the very impressive Gent St. Pieters Station to the south of the city ready to wander into the centre via a canal or two.

      Handy hint: if you don't want to buy a whole GoPass 10 but still want to travel cheaply on the weekend, get the Weekend Ticket. This is available for any age and can be used from 19.00 on Friday to the end of Sunday for only €5 each way - that's a 50% discount! Book online and print at home or buy in Antwerpen Centraal Station for use from any Station in the Antwerpen Zone

      Handy hint: if you don't fancy walking the 2km to the centre from the south, Gent Dampoort Station is further north and closer to the centre but less frequently served

We started out exploring Citadelpark which, however lovely Stadspark is in Antwerpen, was definitely the nicest park we've found in Flanders. It has secret-looking stairs and paths hidden everywhere! Who cares if it's sort of childish to be excited about secret paths in woods at age 21, it was fun! It paid off too, as we stumbled across some kind of festival with a 1920's style band and dance group parading around. Despite our plans to get to the Plantentuin (Botanic Garden) before the hot houses closed, because of the train confusion we didn't make it in time. Still, the outside gardens were absolutely stunning, complete with secret paths, a lake/pond, ducks (ducks are fabulous birds to have in parks) and the scariest fish ever (it was just floating near the edge of the pond so we wandered up all innocently and it swooshed off making a huge commotion). Definitely worth a visit, and judging from the enormity of the hot houses, worth getting there nice and early to go round them.

Walking up Canal Leie was very pretty, although Brugge's canals were a little prettier and generally more romantic. After lunching in St-Baafsplein we headed up the Belfort to get a view over the city before exploring more at ground level. Not just a large clock/bell tower, the Gent Belfort contains a Bell Museum. Don't be put off - we thought it sounded boring too and only went in for the view at the top, but it was actually really interesting. I now know all about how bells are made! Next up was a wander towards Gravensteen (Gent's Castle) via Groot Vleeshuis (pretty architecturally inside but the hanging lumps of smoked meat were slightly off-putting for a vegetarian like me), and Grasbrug/Graslei. Now I know there are some silly signs in the world, but for the City of Gent to put a sign on an extremely picturesque bridge overlooking medieval shopfronts (rebuilt in 1913 for the World Fair) facing the canal saying 'Photo Moment' seems slightly ridiculous to me. Nonetheless, we followed the instructions like good little tourists before heading onto Gravensteen. Gravensteen is surprisingly large for a castle in the centre of a city. After some debate over the €6 entry fee we decided we wanted to explore some more passages and look out over the ramparts so headed in only to find that for some inexplicable reason we were charged €4 instead. Marvellous! Inside was filled with weapons, torture instruments (interesting in a disturbing sort of way) and grand halls which were rescued after the castle was restored from being a cotton mill in the early 20th Century, and the views from the top and the walk around the courtyard surrounding the keep alone definitely make the entrance fee worth it.

The final day of her visit was beautifully sunny so after a quick trip to the Carrefour by Bolivarplaats (the only one open on Sunday mornings in the whole of Antwerpen's centre) we headed to Stadspark for a few hours lounging in the sunshine, spotting baby rabbits hiding in the grass and the cutest baby bird being taught to swim and find food by its parents. All in all, a great visit! Shame the law had to recommence straight away... Still, with my Private Law paper handed in and the majority of my External Relations paper written, the end is in sight. Back to the grindstone for the final stretch!

Some Dutch, some tourism and één beetje more Dutch...

Four days of intensive Nederlands and two days of blatant tourism later I'm still catching my breath!

The Dutch learning has been continuing at break-neck speed, mastering both the past and future tenses in just two days. The tests and pop-quizes are still coming thick and fast but the end is now in sight, and at least my teacher is still trying to make it fun despite the heavy-going grammar! Breaks are spent chatting in the dipped seating area next to the Agora cafe in E building and in the queue for a sandwich from Jean-Pierre's. This unassuming yellow little shop has been serving students for around 50 years and provides delicious sandwiches, drinks, cakes, deli meats, coffee, chocolate and fruit for very cheap prices - a crunchy smos (your filling comes with lettuce, tomato mayonaise and sliced hardboiled egg) sandwich costs between 1,70€ and 1,90€ and coffee is around 1,20€

Thursday and Friday saw me officially registered as a resident of België and student of UA - fantastic! My student card should be delivered soon and once the police have checked that my name is on the door my residency permit should be finalised and I can get my official card and stop carrying around my passport as ID. 

My girlfriend came over from Dundee to visit at the weekend (apparently Ryanair do respectably priced flights from Edinburgh) so as her flight was arriving at Charleroi airport (south of Brussels in Wallonia - French speakers! The horror!) late in the evening I went to meet her at the train station in Charleroi-Sud. To avoid paying 13,70€ each way and in anticipation of further travels beyond the city limits of Antwerpen, I bought a Go-Pass 10. This is basically a bulk-buy discount ticket for those under 26 - ten journeys anywhere in België within a year for 50€. I bought mine from Centraal-Station (well worth a visit just for the architecture - it has been rated recently as one of the world's five most beautiful), filled it in and was on my way. Easy! You don't even have to use a journey per train if you're catching connections just so long as you don't break your trip - perfect for me since I live next to the minor and little served Antwerpen-Zuid Station.

        How to: use your Go-Pass 10 –

1. Write the details of your trip along the first line of your pass (note: the day must be written in Dutch - Mondag, Dinsdag, Woensdag, Donderdag, Vrijdag, Zaterdag, Zondag) using your departure station and final destination
2. Hand it to the conductor on the train to stamp and ta-da! you're on your way for a fraction of the price - just don't forget to use another line for your return trip!

Yet again the efficiency of trains on the continent amazed me - we left every station exactly on time - and 1hr 29 minutes after leaving Berchem I arrived at Charleroi 107km south on the opposite side of the country ready to turn around (on the same train). We made it home just before midnight - a three hour round trip - which was pretty good going!

Saturday was spent showing off my beautiful new campus and city. We wandered through Grote Markt, saw the Brabo fountain and guild houses, spent ages being amazed by the cathedral (3€ for a student and Dundee matric cards are accepted!), walked through Groenplaats, down Meir to see Stadsfeestzaal (a 1908 shopping centre covered in gold gilding and flourishes, and complete with an opera singing quartet) and buy some lunch from Del Haize to eat while dipping our toes in the fountain on Wapper by the Palais de Meir. We also bought a chocolate bear lolly (wow), looked at a chocolate kitchen while marvelling at huge chocolate monsters before heading over to Het Steen and the raised promenade by the Scheld (buying a fresh waffle from CoffeeGo en-route). A tram to the new court building (yes, I am such a law student) and a game of travel monopoly later (I maintain that the dice were weighted against me by the faeries) finished the day.

Sunday was just as touristy, if not more! We attempted to go on a river tour but despite the timetable saying they were running, they actually weren't - boo. Instead of being disappointed, however, we simply moved to the next stop on our plan - the Museum Plantin-Moretus on Vrijdag Markt. After a slight detour to a flea market we found the unimpressive looking building and ventured in. Being the canny students that we are, once we saw the 12€ entry fee we asked for a discount by flashing our UoD cards - voila - 1€ and a free English audio guide. Due thanks need to be made to Lonely Planet's Belgium & Luxembourg guide here - without their recommendation we would never have ventured into an old print works and family house. As is it, we spent over 2,5 hours wandering through the 33 rooms in amazement accompanied by the excellent guide (with music at times!) and saw the only museum room to be on the UNESCO world heritage list, as well as the two oldest preserved printing presses, a renaissance garden and courtyard that puts Oxford to shame, and a whole collection of Rueben’s paintings. I can't rave about this place enough - definitely worth a visit even if you're only in the city for a weekend.

An authentic cone of frieten met mayonaisse (from a Firtuur on the corner of Groenplaats towards Grote Markt) and a fresh chocolate coated waffle refreshed us enough to walk to the Plantentuin (i.e. botanical garden) which, although much smaller than Dundee's, was beautifully laid out and a really nice place to sit and pass the time - plus it's free. Next on the agenda was a walk towards Centraal-Station via the diamond district (a girl just needs to look at pretty diamonds every now and then) to marvel at the 1905 architecture – marble, gold, arches…truly fantastic. For our penultimate trick of the day we were going to walk through the Jewish Quarter to Stadspark and then on to meet the 24 tram home. It didn’t go exactly as planned…we managed to get to the Park but somehow crossed a bridge and ended up in the wrong corner (thinking it was the right one), walked down a road and found the wrong tram stop. Luckily I had a street map in my bag, so we walked back to the park and tried again, this time successfully! Interesting note about Stadspark – the wild rabbits do not look like the ones in the UK…they look like pet rabbits idly nibbling the grass. Strange. The day was concluded with a cheap and cheerful meal in Da Giovanni’s next to the cathedral off Groenplaats and listening to an impromptu concert by Rueben’s statue. A truly touristy weekend!

The success of the laundrette and tram system (which I now know like the back of my hand – well, my trams anyway!) encouraged me to face the duel tasks of the official waste bags and the post office. Yesterday, after looking everywhere for the official bags for a week – if you put your rubbish out in supermarket brand ones you can be fined – I finally gave in and asked the cashier at a Carrefour express near Unif. Mystery solved! Apparently you have to ask for them (Restafval for general rubbish, groot or klein depending on how big your bin is) and pay a lot of money – 7,50€ for 10 large 7,5l bags! This includes the collection fee though, which makes it a little better… The post office was mastered today (opposite the tram stops in Groenplaats – Bank van de Post) as I had to post my receipt of funds letter to the international office in Dundee. In this post office you can’t just pick a cashier and queue – you need a ticket as you walk in through the interior doors which will tell you what your number is in the queue and you’ll get called to the right desk by the computer screen above loker 3. Very confusing! Nonetheless, I managed to get my letter posted – hurrah!

Time to study for my final pre-exam test tomorrow…