Moving to study in brussels, any tips?

Question

I'm moving to Brussels to study medecine in ULB and I am completly clueless about the city and the expences. For the people that live there, do you know which is the best mobile company? Best places to live? places to avoid? Just any random tips would be so useful :) If you guys know the university as well , and have experienced it..your opinions about it would be great. Thanks!

Answer 1

Eat their chocolate, drink their beer and swear at them all the time.

Answer 2

The most popular phone cards for GSM phones (mobile phones) are Proximus cards by Telecom. You have different schemes you can choose from. They have, quite regularly,  "very special promotions"which are interesting although you should always read the fine print.

You may want to ask your university for a list of available accommodation. At the same time this will give you some idea of where it is safe to reside. Some students get together to rent a small apartment and share the expenses, some others just rent a room which is called a "kot". Some kots are furnished some others aren't. If you want to find some place nice to live, you should start looking  now. The university should be able to give the needed info.

The neighbourhoods around universities are quite busy, teeming with people because that's where you have a big choice of restaurants, snacks and cafés.

Food & beverages are expensive compared to the USA.

As a student, you can ask your university for a "student card"(same as in the US). This card gives you a lot of advantages and price reductions when going to certain shops, musea, etc... and for public transport.

Public transport in Brussels is very well organized. I would suggest you buy a STIB "abonnement" which is much cheaper than paying for a transport ticket (bus, tram, subway) every time you need transport.

Whatever you do, always show your student's card as you may be in for a nice surprise (discount) even when not expected.

For more info, check out the following links  :

mobile phones :

http://www.Proximus belgium

public transport :

http://www.STIB brussels

night life :

http://www.belgiumtheplaceto.be/brussels

general :

http://www.brussels-belgium

Hope this helps

Edit :

For your shopping, the cheapest shops (chains) are Aldi & Liddle (not sure about the spelling) then you have Colruyt (where you can buy per piece or in bulk) followed by Carrefour, GB and Delhaize. All of these shops have special promotions going on on a regular basis + you can have a "fidelity"card that will  entitle you to extra discounts and/or accumulation of points. A certain number of points will give you the right either to get a voucher to shop for free for a certain amount or you can choose, according to the number of points,  some item on a specific list.

These are just little perks but, when you are a student and on a small budget, they can be very interesting perks.

Also, Brussels is like all cities : some places aren't that safe (near the train stations in general)  but Brussels is reputed to be quite a safe city. Just don't go out at night with a lot of money or jewelry. Do not tempt people.

You'll notice, when going out in the evening,  that most of the Belgians ladies have tiny handbags or I should rather say tiny "shoulderbags" which can't be easily snatched from them. We also tend to put our home keys into our coat pocket rather than in our bag. Those are just precautions hence the tip. Personally, I never had any problems. We are used to walk from uptown to downtown & vice-versa at all hours and we never had any problems.

I forgot to give you a link for accommodation. This will give you an idea of the rents asked in Brussels. Start from where your university is located and enlarge your circle little by little using a map or Google. This will give you the names of the neighbourhoods around the university where you'll be able to find a place to stay. Once you have the names (Brussels is divided into communes e.g. Etterbeek, Ixelles, Forest), it will be easier for you to check the Vlan website.

This is the link of the Vlan, major free newspaper of Brussels known for its ads. Check out the petites annonces ->

Immobilier -> Brussels (communes are listed alphabetically)-> Location (for rent) -> then

the "studio" section or the "appartement 1 chambre"section (1 bedroom apartments)

http://www.vlan.be

You can either rent, all amenities included (rather rare but it is still done especially for kots) or you have to add your amenities expenses for water, gas & electricity to your rent. Amenities aren't that expensive but, if you decide to live in a big apartment building, you'll get, once a year, an extra bill (shared by all the people living in the bldg) for the general maintenance expenses of your building. Better to try to find a room or apartment in a house where there are only "kots", in a "maison uni-familiale" (former family home transformed into small apartments, studios or kots)  or in a small building without a concierge or lift.

By the way, universities have also accommodation available for their students but I do not know if you can qualify for this. You could check this out with your unif.

That's it. If I think of something else, i'll get back to you.