Still alive!

Hey everybody!

I've been studying in Leuven for almost three months now. I really like it and I now feel completely in my environment there. There are a lot of students where we are in Leuven. I wasn't expecting to find so many students, teenagers there. It's really nice to feel like we're in a "students' city".

When it comes to the culture in Leuven, I didn't really learn anything new. We've visited and learnt about Flemish cities during our lessons at the ISPG so I already knew about the culture but it's nice to see and live it everyday. The students in Leuven, and in Flanders I assume, have a really good level in English. That's something that was very interesting to me. We asked questions to the teacher and he explained us that, as we knew, most of the channels there are in English with Dutch subtitles. He explained that students were used to hearing English since they're kids. The students there have a lot of vocabulary and a very good pronunciation. I have to say that I'm a little bit jealous! :p

Art plays a big role in the school there. The classrooms have a lot of different posters and also things drawn by the students themselves. Most of the posters are very creative and funny with puns and sarcastic comments. Right now, there is a stage in the patio. Students but also lecturers come and read poems during the lunch break. You can ask to go on stage and read the poem you chose. It's very nice and entertaining. We don't watch as many films in class as we do at the ISPG. I feel that since students already watch films and tv-shows in English at home it is not necessary to do it often in the class. In Brussels, we watch television in French (sometimes Dutch) so it is extremely important to see films in English/Dutch during the lessons.

I didn't really experience a "culture clash". I learn more and more about different cultures but there is no "culture clash" because it's all about sharing. When I say that, I'm talking about the sharing we do with the IEC group. We follow lessons with three different groups : two groups of Dutch students from GroepT and one group of "International students". The group with the "International students" is most definitely my favourite one! It's so interesting to follow courses with them. We always have to present a different aspect of our own culture/country/language and it's amazing. There are students from Spain, Turkey, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Ireland, Pakistan, etc. The students in this group are so welcoming and have great personalities. They're very fun and they're my favourites, as you may have noticed. They're all very curious so we get to share a lot and there is no clash. Everybody's learning about the other's culture while sharing and comparing their own. Some of the students even start speaking in French with us because they want to learn a lot of different things and I have learnt some Nigerian slang :p

Like the teachers at the ISPG and most of my mentors said : culture is extremely important when learning a language. The fact that I'm speaking Dutch while being in Flanders greatly influences my learning of the language. It creates a sphere, a special environment. I don't really know how to explain it but it just does. Only hearing Dutch makes me use it automatically. I feel the same way about English. Being in an "International group" where cultures are different forces us to use the thing that links us all : a common language. I'm very happy to have chosen Leuven because I really feel like I'm slowly but surely improving.

I miss you all a lot! Take care,

Sarah