The colonial legacy in Sri Lanka requires a lot of time to get one’s head around, but as a traveller in this day and age, it’s certainly important to know why your fellow passengers speak English as well as you do.… Read More Sri Lanka’s colonial legacy of trains, tea and the Queen’s English
By the time I arrived in Leuven in September, I had resolved to enrol in Italian classes alongside my masters. I was told that Dutch wouldn’t be needed in Belgium or The Netherlands because most people speak English, which isn’t the case in Italy. Belgians were happy to code-switch to English and would deprecatingly reassure… Read More Being gezellig in Leuven and Nijmegen
Years ago I saw The Spanish Apartment and thought it was an amusing but morally questionable film. Maybe I was a little sheltered but after I watched it I remember thinking, “Is this really what it means to be on an Erasmus?!” Well, given that I’m at least ten years older than the characters in… Read More A long goodnight kiss to Belgium
Given that making new friends seems to be one of my favourite pastimes, it’s little wonder that I’ve been enjoying myself here in Leuven. I said in a previous post that I wanted to write about all these new international friends, and lately I’ve been reflecting on it in the context of making friends in… Read More Friendship and loneliness in Leuven
The thing about moving away from home, and especially on your own, is that it gives you a whole new raft of choices, which is both terrifying and liberating. This happens when you move to a new city, but it’s particularly apparent when you pack your bags and move to another country. Suddenly, everything is new… Read More It might have been otherwise
