Blog #5
There are many things that shocked me when arriving in Belgium. One of the most pleasant surprises was the amount of freedom that I had. I knew that by leaving my parents for a whole year that I would have some new freedoms, but I thought that since I would also be living with a new host family, that I would be restricted in some ways. I was proven wrong with this assumption pretty quickly. Even though I was living by the rules of a host family, I had more independence and freedom than I ever had in Florida.
A lot of this freedom is probably because of how small of a country Belgium is. Unlike back home, a few hours on the train or in a car would get me to the entire other side of the country, sometimes even into a new country. But back home, it takes at least an hour to drive to a bigger city. The public transport also allowed me to be very independent and have a lot more freedom. I was able to take spontaneous day trips to different cities all the time, even if I had only asked five minutes before leaving. I think this also had a lot to do with the culture of Belgium. I believe that the parents of most families trust their children a lot more as compared to back home.
On a lot of days, I was in charge of getting myself to and from school. I learned to love taking the bus because of how independent it made me feel and how I was able to get places without having to rely on someone else, or myself, to drive. With the bus, I was also able to do things more at my own pace since there would always be another bus at another time for me to take home.
Even during the days that I was in school I felt more freedom and independence. Everyday for lunch I was able to leave the school with my friends and walk around the city to get food or just to hang out. And if a teacher was absent, we could leave the school as well.
Overall, before actually arriving in Belgium, I was worried that the possible lack of freedom and independence that I might experience would take away a lot of opportunities from me. When I actually experienced the level of freedom that I had, it was a huge relief and eyeopener. It also made me realize that I tend to automatically think of things negatively before actually knowing the reality of the situation. Now, I try my hardest to accept uncertainty in new situations and trust that things will fall into place.
