Vlerick Business School

The first night I was thousands of miles away from home, I was introduced to the nightlife of Gent, a city that was not quite alive at that point of the year because the University was on vacation. It has been more than 10 months since then and there is nothing that Gent holds as far as Pubs and hangouts are concerned, that this Indian does not know of. As a class we hung out at Peanuts and De Vagant, on the Overpoortstraat, but as the work load from school increased by the months, hanging out as a class diminished. A couple of close friends and there I was, in the Geuz van Gent or the boat, both near the Decascoop, or the smoky and very typical Jazz Pub. There is an endles row of pubs on the Overpoortstraat and one will have to find his/her favourite place on his/her own. Gent will not dissapppoint the night raiders.

There is no housing arrangement by the School. Al though, affiliated with the University of Gent and Leuven, University housing is the only facility that is unavailable to students from Vlerick.

Indian universities and especially the University of Delhi, has all courses in English and moreover, I, for one cannot differentiate between English and Hindi. I am equally at ease with both of them. The language back home, therefore, was no issue. While in Belgium, Dutch was absolutely un-understandable. I still remember the day when one of my classmates, in the very beginning of the year taught me basic phrases, such as "Do you have vegetarian food?", "Do you speak English?" etc. It was never a problem in Gent because English is understood by a fair majority of the population. At school, since the programme is in English, it was explicitely stated by the Programme Director, in the very beginning, that people should speak English while at school. I laughed at the aspirations that very day. It is simply not possible for the Dutch speakers to speak English amongst themselves but I am very grateful to all of my Belgian classmates who almost all the time, switched over to English, as soon as there was an international student in their vicinity. There were a couple of problems, with a couple of people, at a certain time, as they just did not care to switch, even when it was an academic discussion in a group, but then again, no complaints. I will not stop short of calling the other 99% in the class as very co-operative, just because 1% did not care.

This was the best year of my life. The kind of people that I met here will ordinarily have been completely missed out from my life, had I not chosen to come to this country, the one that I will forever call my second home. I have been loved so much by my class. Even had a nickname and a personal song, which I am sure, the class would sing, every time we meet in the future. I loved each and every moment of it. I advice anyone who wishes to come to Vlerick to be sure that hardwork and socialising will go hand in hand and one better be prepared for an unforgettable experience.

One surprise would definitely spring up, even for the least social. Please do not count upon the fcat that you would not go out that much and that you would spend very less on drinks. You do not have to be an alcoholic to be spending money on beer. This is Belgium.