Université de Liège, Belgium

Read whatever you can find about Belgium -- history, tourism, newspapers, etc.

Talk to people who have been there; you can always contact me at marycain@uiuc.edu. At Illinois, Professor Leburton in the ECE department is from Liege, and he arranged the exchange. Both the French and ECE departments at Illinois often host graduate students from Liege. My French TA the spring before I left is from Liege, and she was there for the summer when I arrived. It was wonderful to have her and her family meet me at the airport and help me to find a place to stay and show me around Liege during my first days. Professor Destine is the University of Liege coordinator for the Liege-Illinois exchange, and I was able to e-mail him with my questions before I left. The international student office at Liege is also very helpful, and very welcoming when you arrive. If you have any questions or problems during your first few weeks don't hesitate to visit them!

Learn the metric system!!! Everyone else in the world uses it. And measurements are frequently necessary in conversations. (How cold does it get in Illinois; how far do you live from Chicago; how much snow do you get?; how fast were you driving when you got a ticket?) Do not expect Europeans to undertstand you when you speak in inches, feet and fahrenheit. Although they are familiar with the names of English units, Europeans generally don't know their values. Many textbooks and travel books have a nice conversion table; learn it!

Often in Europe things are written in 24-hour time (military time), to avoid confusion between AM and PM. Train schedules, class schedules, movie schedules, even party invitations use it. Once you adjust it's easier than our system. Also, Europeans write the date in a different order than Americans. While we write month, day, year (05/25/1979), Europeans write day, month, year (25/05/1979). When writing numbers, the comma and period are interchanged; Europeans write one-half as 0,5 instead of 0.5.

Obtaining a student visa for Belgium (required if you are staying longer than 90 days) takes a lot of time. You can get information about applying for the visa at the Belgian embassy web site for the United States at http://www.belgium-emb.org/usa. This site also has useful information about Belgium.

Once you arrive in Liege, you must register with the 'cité administrative'. This is a long ordeal. Bring every document you could possibly own and 6 identity photos and some money (it was 250 FB when I was there), and a very good book to entertain you while you wait. Every document you could possibly own, means your passport, everything you needed to apply for your visa, your lease or housing certification from the dorms, proof that you have money or a scholarship, a letter and an attestation form from the University of Liege, anything you have from Illinois, and anything else you think they might want to see. Once you provide all the documents, the police will come to visit your residence. Again, keep all those documents handy. And be aware that each time you have to go back with more information you must wait 2 weeks. No one ever figured out why, but the administrative workers will not see you more than once every 2 weeks. After a few months you will receive a postcard with an appointment to go and obtain your alien residence permit. This is finally the end! But remember to bring all your documents and photos again, and especially any papers the city has given you since you arrived and began the process. Several exchange students compare this process to Kafka's book, The Trial. Recommended reading before you go. Also, check out the city of Liege website; it has a section on obtaining your alien ID card. I first entered the cité administrative at the end of August and received my card in mid November, 6 visits later. If you are leaving the European Union during your stay the alien card is necessary to return to Belgium (i.e. going home for Christmas). This card is also very useful for getting into Italian museums at a student price. They only give the discount to EU member students.

Packing:

Check with your airline for the baggage allowances. Then PACK LIGHTLY! The weather in Belgium is mild and it rains a lot. If you are there for the winter you will need a winter jacket, but it does not get much colder than 30 °F (O °C). Definitely bring a rain coat or umbrella or waterproof jacket. You will use it often. Students do get dressed up for oral exams; for guys at least a shirt and tie, often a suit, and for girls either nice pants or skirt and shirt, or a suit. Being on campus during oral exam periods reminded me of career fair days at Illinois. For everyday clothes people wear just about everything, altough girls wear skirts and nice clothes more often than in the US. Europeans tend to have just enough clothes to wear for the week and wear them over and over again, so don't worry about not having a variety of clothes.

For personal hygeine products, you can find just about everything either at the grocery store or one of the pharmacies. If you wear contact lenses, you can buy the solution at any optometrist's office.

Using your ATM card to withdraw money is the cheapest and easiest. There are ATM machines in every airport, in or very near all train stations, and at most banks. It is good to have a back-up plan (travellers checks, credit card, etc.) in case a bank machine eats your card or it gets stolen. Visa and Mastercard are the most widely accepted credit cards.