Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL)

Cloudy weather most of the time... The place where the university was built was formerly known as "Little Siberia", because of its VERY cold wind... Local beer may keep you warm - they drink LOADS of it.

For french-speakers : funny Belgian accent and language odd tips, such as the general incapacity to distinguish two verbs ("savoir" and "pouvoir"). You may be surprised to be asked in French whether you "know" how to open the door, or how to read... They only ask you if you CAN open the door, or if you can read althought it is dark, for example. Many weird local words, funny to discover.

1/ The railway company allows young students to buy 10-journey travelcards called "Gopass", it's a cheap and handy way to discover Belgium. 2/ Food : See 3.

Watch out ! The accomodation in this university is almost entirely in the hands of private investors. Their agencies own a great number of apartments (individual or collective). Students who can afford to go to Louvain during the summer or in early September can choose flat location and accomodation, but most foreign students have no choice. Local accomodation agencies tell them they had to book them a room (a "kot", as they say in Belgium - a Flemish word for "corner"), and it's too late to change, even if your classes are a 40-minute walk away from your "kot" - and classes usually start at 8 in the morning. (Cars or buses are not allowed in the city - Bring your bike, roller-blades, or donkey).Or you may be at ground level on the busiest street of Louvain, unable to sleep before 3 AM or after 7 AM (night life is rather busy there, except during week-ends). So tell the agency from the beginning what kind of accomodation you expect (find out in wich part of the city your classes will take place, it depends on your academic area) and make sure you can change if your "kot" is not suitable for you. If they refuse, DO insist. They seem to be used to consider foreign students a handful tribe to fill in the lousiest "kots", and they ask you to send up money to book the kot long beforehand. The whole thing seems to be a hell of a money-making business, but it's not very honest. And the university itself will be of no help, as they're not in charge.

Each Belgian region has its own house, where tey have parties, and they're much more fun than the city bars and cafés. It's hard to go out at night in Brussels if you ave no car - public transportation between Brussels and Louvain stops around 11 PM. Week-ends are terribly dull if you don't travel around the country (many beautiful cities to visit up north, in the Flemish area). All Belgians get back to their parents' on Friday afternoon. The local cinema has cheap sneak previews.