A student, an intern and life as a local in Brussels

Shamica Shim wrote to us on her culturally-rich experience in Brussels, Belgium this past summer. Shamica is quite the achiever: she will graduate in 2015 with a double major in Political Science and Eastern Literature and Language-Chinese, minors in International Development and Humanitarian Assistance and European Union Studies, and a certificate in International Relations. She was one of fifteen UF undergraduate students enrolled in the Center's UF in Brussels study abroad program. Here are her experiences as a student, an intern, and a local in Brussels:

 

Brussels was an amazing place. It has such a laid back, yet rambunctious atmosphere.  It was easy to meet a number of people who worked for different European Union institutions because many of them hung out at local bars after work. So, I had a great opportunity to get firsthand experience of their role in their respective institutions. One of the things I love most about Brussels was that I met people from all over the world. It was one of the most culturally diverse places I have ever been to.  Some of the people, who I ‘m now able to call friends, were from Indonesia, Congo, Mozambique, and Zambia. Through their experiences, I learned a lot about their culture and family life.  The school I attended in Brussels was Vesalius College (VeCo), which is the international school of Vrije Universiteit Brussels. The classes there were similar to that of my own university (University of Florida). The class sizes were much smaller than UF, but they were, similarly, instructor-led. Some of my classmates were able to study under prestigious professors, whose experience in their field was very extensive.  My class took field trips to many of the EU institutions, listened to presentations from staff members, and toured the facilities. I enjoyed visiting the European Parliament the most because it reminded me a lot of the United States Congress.  Here is a picture of my class- both Vesalius and UF students- taken at the European Commission. 

I didn’t have the opportunity to travel as much as my classmates did because I was interning for the European Cooperative for Rural Development  (EUCORD). It was an interesting internship to say the least. I’ve done internships prior to going Brussels and they were more hands-on, workload heavy and stricter than EUCORD.  So, it took a while to get used to the ideas of being assigned work only when needed. Some days I did nothing and other days I was very busy, but, for the most part, a majority of what I learned about the organization was from my own research. One task I worked on for a while was one I suggested to my advisor. Because EUCORD worked on agricultural development in underdeveloped countries in Africa, I suggested conducting research on China’s role in African development. This research opened the door to EUCORD’s exploration of working with South African and Chinese development agencies to progress African development.
 

One maybe not so important thing to note is I was also in Brussels during the World Cup. It was interesting to participate in an important part of culture, not only for Europeans, but for Latin Americans as well. I had a lot of fun cheering for Belgium (except when they played against the US) and seeing how Belgians celebrated after making goals and winning games. Overall, I truly enjoyed my experience in Brussels and I would recommend it to any first-time and experienced travelers. (Picture below is of some of my classmates, VeCo friends and I celebrating Belgium’s victory in one of its matches.)