Before arriving in Belgium, my stomach was in knots from worry, wondering what it would be like to study, to make friends, and to create a feeling of “home” in a foreign country. I expected my courses to be as challenging and rigorous as my courses at Pitt, but with the added dimension of being taught in a foreign language. I also expected to have troubles fitting into a good friend group since my friendships at Pitt are so strong. I expected to feel lost and lonely at times, but I also hoped that my study abroad experience would surprise me and force me to grow as an individual. Have these expectations been met? In some ways, yes.

In the first few weeks of class, I felt immensely overwhelmed with the language barrier in my classes. I was scrambling to translate bits and pieces I did not understand while the lecturer, a native French-speaker, quickly explained complex psychology concepts. Much of my own French experience was in casual settings rather than academic and scientific settings, so I had to build my professional French vocabulary in order to catch up with the fast-paced courses here at Université Libre de Bruxelles. It took some work, but I feel as though I am in a place where I feel secure about my studies (and it definitely helps that much of French scientific terms are cognates of English terms!). One class in particular helped elevate my confidence: French as a Foreign Language. In this course, the professor teaches French to me and many other foreign-exchange students in the same boat, so I feel a sense of comfort knowing that the other students also do not understand French perfectly quite yet. My favorite thing about the way the course is taught is that the professor speaks French to us the entire time. At first, I was stressed, asking myself how it is possible to learn another language while being taught in that same language. As it turns out, this is the BEST way to learn French. Rather than equating a French word to an English word, thus implicitly forcing some sort of mental translation process, my classmates and I are challenged to define an unknown French word using French words we already do know. My French comprehension has dramatically improved since the beginning of this class. Going to my other French-taught psychology courses, I find myself no longer needing a translation aid at my side. While the courses are still rigorous and challenging, I feel more and more confident that I can handle them.

Brussels is a massive, international city with people of all different nationalities and cultures. I expected to find many American friends, which I hoped would fix my homesickness. On the contrary, none of my friends are American! My friends come from Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Spain. Since we all feel a little lost coming alone to a big city, having each other to go on day trips or go for lunch on campus makes Brussels feel so much more like home. We love discussing differences in lifestyle and culture, and we love exchanging new words and phrases from our native languages. What surprised me the most is how easily we clicked! I had met a few of them on Facebook before coming to Brussels, and through mutual connections, we formed a solid group. I never expected to find such valuable, close-knit friendships with people from all across the world!

So, it seems as though my somewhat pessimistic expectations have been surpassed. I can confidently say I feel “at home” here in Brussels, and from now on, I expect my study abroad experience to get better and better!