I am writing this blog post from the train from Chicago to Washington D.C., a train ride that takes 23 hours and 30 minutes, and this after I already was on the bus this morning that took 8 hours from Minneapolis to Chicago. I decided to travel by train so I had enough time to sit, relax and contemplate my nine-month long experience in the United States.
My Fulbright adventure began in September 2018 when I arrived in “The Windy City” to start a Master of Law at the University of Chicago. My year as a Fulbright scholar has been a truly amazing experience! I was able to connect with people from all over the world and got a unique inside to the American culture.
Jet-setting off to a new country for a year comes with a certain allure. No one there knows who you are, where you come from, or what you’re interested in. You can be the mysterious new foreigner, and can adapt your persona to easily fit the culture in which you find yourself. Sometimes, however, you move to Luxembourg…
“It was the curse of Leopold,” Siska Genbrugge, an alumna of the Fulbright Program in Belgium and Coordinator of Conservation at Brussels’ Africa Museum, explained to staff members of the Fulbright Commission as she recounted the day before the re-opening of the notorious museum.
Last August the moment was finally here; I was moving to New York City. A dream come true for a Broadway enthusiast like myself. I learned very quickly that the U.S. was full of wonderful opportunities for professional growth and fun events, you just have to share your enthusiasm with other people and ask them directly for help.
On the occasion of 70 years of academic exchange between the U.S. and Belgium, the Fulbright Commission in Brussels and Ghent University celebrated their partnership by hosting a conference in the afternoon of Tuesday, June 18 to highlight the achievements and future of the Fulbright-Ghent University partnership.
Earlier this month, the Fulbright Commission welcomed representatives from the seven Belgian universities and university colleges that will be hosting a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to its first ever ETA Host Institution Workshop.
This spring, the Fulbright Commission in Brussels welcomed two sets of visitors from the Institute of International Education.
It must have been in the 1980s that I met the first Fulbright guest I had the pleasure to welcome. At that time I was a young assistant at KU Leuven, and since then I have lost count of the opportunities to be the host of both Fulbright professors and teaching assistants.
The University of Luxembourg is fascinating. It is the country’s only public university but it was only founded in 2004! Although the University is quite young, it feels very established. It has numerous undergraduate, masters, and PhD students, and it hosts many seminars and conferences. I was also impressed by the Law School’s roster of adjunct and guest speakers. The University is also multilingual, offering numerous courses in French, German, and English. Some programs are entirely in English, while many require two languages.
by Fulbright