FIRST DAYS, LAST DAYS AND ALL THE DAYS IN BETWEEN

Working in Brussels

Last night, as I arrived home slightly tipsy after a few drinks with my colleagues, I smiled and thought to myself: it's gone far better than expected, the job thing. I have to admit that, new and surprising as this realisation might seem, Brussels has actually treated me quite well job-wise. Now that things are finally falling into place, I will try to explain why.

I seriously started looking for a job in Brussels at the beginning of February. I wasn't sure what kind of job I wanted but I was positive that the kind of job I didn't want was teaching elementary school English. No more maîtresse. No more wheels on the bus, little ducks who went swimming one day, no more sit down jump up high high high. A new career please, and make it interesting. 

My assets, I figured, were: languages, working experience (even if not in the areas I was aiming at) and enough attitude to win my audience at the interview. My weaknesses: no work experience in the areas I was aiming at and not enough attitude to lie about the latter. With the fierce Brussels competition, I could only start my non-teaching life by doing two things: applying for internships and crossing my fingers. I did both, full time.

After what seemed like ages but was indeed less than two months, I got my first interview and then a second one, on the very same day. The first job I got, the second one - I didn't, but I felt relieved: all I needed was one job, after all. I took it, even though it was an unpaid (yes, by "unpaid" I mean "unpaid" as in "working for free") internship and decided to make the best of it. 

Today, on my last day, which came sooner than expected, I can tell you that it was a good choice. I learned a lot, met some lovely people, and had a very comfy and pleasant plunge into the job market in Brussels. I am now moving on to something which seems more intense, more stressful but slightly more challenging, too. However, I feel sad to leave behind the fantastic work environment (not to say "work in environment", hope some of you will get the pun!) I was lucky to become part of. 

Today is not about my future job. Today is about saying goodbye when you wish you didn't have to.

Today I can't stop thinking that the first day may have been tough, the last day is sad, but... all the days in between were great. Thank you.

NOT SO BORING BELGIUM OR TOP FIVE OF BELGIAN CURIOSITIES

Belgium: so many surprises in store!

You'd think Belgium is a boring country. It's small, it's full of European institutions and...? Few average non-Belgians know much more about this country. Still, it has proved to be anything but boring so far. Brace yourselves. Today, the Top Five of Belgian/bruxellois curiosities. Here goes.

5. Belgian weather

Yes, I tend to end up in places with rather extreme weather conditions. After the notorious Galician rain and the infernal heat-slash-humidity of Central Africa, I have arrived in what seems to be the most unstable country in the world. Weather-wise. I'll get to politics later on. The seasons in Belgium change every day, twice a day, and you pass from an extremely hot summer in May to rainy/sunny spring in June to autumn cold and windy days in July. By now, I am half expecting snow in August, closely followed by high temperatures and falling red leaves. For all I know, it might happen. A final piece of advice: just in case, always wear layers, don't invest too much in summer clothes and have an umbrella with you at all times. And don't give up on an activity just because the weather is not perfect for it - you might end up not ever doing it in the end!

4. Belgian national dish

Belgian national dish is called chips in British English but French fries in American English. Now, most people on the planet - including the French - consider chips their own nation's invention. But the Belgians have taken it one step further: they actually think that fried potatoes are a dish! And so you can buy them in the street, in enormous quantities with your sauce of choice, while the crockery stores offer special porcelain cones for chips, if what you're planning is a fancy fry feast. I'm sorry, Belgian friends! Fries are a side dish to the real food. Simple as that.

3. Belgian budgerigars

The first time we saw a parrot peacefully perched on a branch, we thought it was someone's pet who was enjoying a few stolen moments of freedom, having escaped from its cage. And then there was another one. And then a different park, and more parrots still, and a Polish girl looking at them in disbelief. Finally, I read that several kinds of exotic birds were set free when a ZOO was closed in Brussels, and - did they not see this coming? - many of them died. However, some proved to be immune to the weather craze described in point 5 and today form part of Brussels wildlife as much as pigeons do. Fascinating stuff.

2. Belgian political situation

The country has not had a government for 13 months (ever since the elections on 13 June 2010) and... well, nothing. The king is doing his best to urge the politicians to do something about it. The politicians are doing their best to ignore the king. The right-wing Dutch-speaking nationalists remain the right-wing Dutch-speaking nationalists. The left-wing French-speaking socialists remain the left-wing French-speaking socialists. And the Belgians, who, by the way, are obliged to vote by law, just don't care anymore. The country has been working for the past year, in the end. So let the politicians be. We'll have some fries instead. In a fancy porcelain fry cone!

1. Brussels job market and the intricate world of internships

When I first came to Brussels I was excited. I was beginning a new life and hoping to recycle my professional career. I was young, motivated, spoke several languages, had lived in three different countries and felt I could take over the world. How hard could it be? In one word: very. Of course, I was young, motivated and proficient in quite a few languages but... I was also one of many. Exactly how many, I didn't know at the time but I soon started to suspect we were millions.

It took me two months to find my first internship (luckily, I'd never fooled myself I could get a job other than teaching straight away), and, even though from these four months' perspective I think it was an excellent experience, it must be said that the job turned out to be unpaid. In total, I must have answered around 60 ads, which resulted in several breakdowns, three interviews and two job (internship) offers. In the case of the second one, which is paid and which I will be starting in August, I was informed that I was chosen out of a staggering number of 560 applicants.

I have heard horror stories of eternal interns, who seem to be a phenomenon typical of Brussels: they are currently doing their sixth internship, and still cannot find a proper job. This kind of broken European dream scares me a bit. Hopefully, I'll beat another 500 people when applying for an actual job (this is my newly-regained confidence speaking). All in all, I think I'm still suffering for the job-hunter's trauma: it's enough to say that in my little world Brussels' job market is actually more disturbing than the lack of government. How self-centred can you get, eh? I am slowly regaining my balance, though: the government did beat the budgerigars after all!

Disclaimer: This list is highly subjective. If you think that Madame Pipi (i.e. a typically busty lady dutifully guarding public toilets and collecting the toilet fee), omnipresent in Belgian establishments, should have been included, leave a comment and I will consider your claim.