I’m Andrew Romanchik, a Politics and Philosophy student with my sights set on law. So when Pitt’s Governance and Policy in Brussels program came across my radar, it was a straightforward decision. Getting inside exposure to how the EU and NATO actually operate is the kind of experience that translates directly into a legal career, especially one with any international dimension. On top of that, the program gives me the chance to travel and conduct research alongside one of my professors, which is something you can’t manufacture in a classroom.
Arriving in Brussels for the first time, the city’s layered identity hits you immediately. French architecture sets the tone, the EU’s institutional gravity hangs over everything, and Flemish culture runs beneath it all. It is not a city that lets you forget its history. Every block is a reminder that Brussels has been pulled in multiple directions for centuries, and somehow it is still standing.
Every EU member state maintains a permanent presence here, and on top of that you have diplomatic missions from countries all over the world. The result is a city where you can walk a few blocks and hear a dozen different languages, eat food from virtually anywhere, and interact with people whose backgrounds span the entire globe. It does not feel like a capital that belongs to one country, because it essentially does not. It belongs to whoever has business here, and that turns out to be everyone. One thing you notice quickly is how present the war in Ukraine is in the everyday fabric of the city. Ukrainian flags, posters, and stickers are plastered across storefronts, windows, and walls throughout Brussels. It makes sense. This is the political center of a continent that has had to reckon with Russia as its most serious security threat, and the EU and NATO both have a direct stake in how that war ends. The solidarity is not performative here the way it can feel elsewhere. It reflects something the people in this city, and the institutions that fill it, are actually grappling with every day.
