Université de Liège, Belgium

Le Carré (The Square): This area of the city center comprises 9 small pedestrian-only streets which by day house most of the shops and restaurants, and by night the bars and clubs. Friday, Wednesday and Saturday are the biggest going-out nights, in that order. There are 2 large student festivals in Le Carré; the first week in December is St. Nicolas, and in March is St. Torré. These are not to be missed. Ask the Belgians about it.

Photos of Liege: Top: Left: St. Paul's Cathedral. Center: Postcard panorama. Right: Le Perron, a fountain and symbol of the liberty of the people of Liege. Bottom: Liege riverfront on a typical January day.

Place St. Lambert: This is the former sight of St. Lambert's Cathedral, which the people of Liege destroyed during their revolution in 1815. Today the square has large pillars marking the former foundation of the cathedral. The Palace of the Prince-Bishops, today the Palace of Justice, still stands. On one end of the place is the Opera Royale de Wallonie. This is the end stop for the bus 48 to campus. In the center of everything is the main bus terminal, where you can buy bus passes and catch buses to just about anywhere in the region. Also surrounding the Place are many shops, including FNAC and Inno. FNAC sells computers, televisions, stereos, cameras, books, movies and music. Inno is a large department store that sells everything. The tourist office is near the Inno store. They have excellent maps of Liege and lots of information about events in the region. Another good source of information is the youth information center (Centre J), located on the Boulevard d'Avroy.

The Opera, the 48 bus, and the Palace of the Prince Bishops.

The grocery store: Depending on where you live, you will probably shop at either GB or DelHaize, the two main grocery chains in Belgium. You must weigh fresh fruit/vegetables BEFORE the check-out. There is a scale which prints out the price for you in the produce department. If you buy loaves of bread, there is a machine to slice them! Not all European grocery stores provide free bags, and even if they do you are always welcome to bring your own. Most milk and fruit juice in Belgium comes in cardboad cartons labeled UHT, which means ultra-high-temeperature pasteurized. In other words, you can buy it and it keeps for months, but once you open it you must keep it in the refrigerator. The grocery store is a great place to pick up new vocabulary; every word has a clear visual example attached to it! Beware! The grocery store is closed on Sundays, and is only open until 7:30 pm during the week. It closes for most public holidays too. Every Sunday you can shop at the large market, La Batte, along the Meuse river. At La Batte you will find everything: fruit, vegetables, bread, flowers, meat, live farm animals, clothing, antiques...

Belgian radio and TV: DEFINITELY get yourself a small radio or television, or watch TV with your friends! It is an easy way to learn French, and also teaches you about Belgian culture. RTBF is the main public TV and radio company; their website has the TV guide and web radios. Ignore the weather reports, aside from the temperatures. Just know that it will rain almost every day.... Even if it is bright and sunny in the morning.

Movies: There are several movie theaters in Liege. Palace, on Blvd. Pont d'Avroy, shows the big films, usually American, and always dubbed into French (VF means version francaise). The Churchill, in the Carré, shows less-known films, often foreign and always in VO (version originale), with French and Flemish subtitles. Movies cost around $7.00. You can rent movies in several movie rental shops which you will see in town.

Strikes: In Belgium they say that the first right of a democracy is the right to strike, and Belgians strike often. While I was there just about everyone went on strike; the bus drivers, the train conductors, the phone company, the postal workers, the electricity company, the farmers, the grocery stores, truck drivers, elementary school teachers, and medical students. Most strikes are announced in advance, and I wouldn't have noticed most of them if I hadn't read the newspaper. In October 2000 the bus drivers had a 'savage strike' (savage because it was not announced in advance). The strike lasted one month. Suddenly campus was VERY far away. For students in the dorms getting to class is easy, but getting to the grocery store is difficult. Many students hitch-hiked during the strike, and had no problems. I talked to one of my teaching assistants, and he arranged to pick me up or found friends to drive me. Once I was in class it was never a problem to find a ride back home with classmates. After the strike a group of students set up a web site for car-pooling to campus. But strikes are not always negative; I got to ride in cars for a month, which I hardly ever got to do in Europe, and I met several peole who became good friends.