Breathing in the Brisk Brussels Air
About the author: Sarah Saboorian ’21 is an FSI The Europe Center Intern at Bruegel in Brussels, Belgium.
The day I arrived in Brussels it was 111º fahrenheit (or 44º Celsius as many workplace debates surrounding the superiority of the metric system have conditioned me to say). However, the sweltering heat in the city did not put a damper on my excitement to start working at Bruegel, an economic policy think-tank focusing on recommendations to the European Union. I spent the weekend before my first day meandering the streets, visiting the famous Grand Palace where I stuffed myself with waffles and fries, and even hitting two local farmers markets that occur on Sundays only, where I stocked up on produce for the week.
I was lucky enough to fall into my workplace routine quite quickly. Upon my arrival I was assigned to do research on the EU-China trade relationship, looking into everything from the Belt and Road Initiative to data flows to obstacles to an investment agreement. I learned so much so quickly, and the project was made even more relevant to me as during the course of my research the U.S. announced 10% tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese imports, the S&P declined as a result, and the yuan also weakened. To be able to see the applications of what I was learning firsthand and to tangibly feel my heightened understanding of the news surrounding the trade war was extremely rewarding.
The pace of life here is notably different from the United States (even my home state of California) which has been an adjustment I more than welcomed. At Bruegel, this manifests itself in extended lunch time discussions with co-workers from around the world, including two other Stanford interns, to frequent trips to the office kitchen for biscuits. My walks to and from work have also become a relaxing constant in life here, made even more pleasant by the fact that the sun does not set until 9:30 (read 21:30). Given the central location of Brussels within Europe, I have also been lucky enough to travel during the weekends, having stopped in Berlin and Brugge and Dinant (two small Belgian towns) thus far, with more travel planned for the future!
