Pre-departure:
From the moment of confirmation of acceptance for exchange a flush of euphoria streams through your body as you realise exactly the magnitude of the adventure that lies ahead. Suddenly studying acquires several more dimensions as very soon you will fly to a distant corner of the earth. There awaits a whole new chapter of your life that still remains mysteriously unbeknownst to you.
As I am a Greek citizen it was not required of me to undergo any formal procedures, my luck was such that I did not even need to visit an Embassy for a visa. What luck, considering the worrisome experiences in the process of acquiring a visa others have had! I had to complete a Learning Agreement in order to get my course selection approved. The mere range and variety of the courses on offer excited me very much.
The International Office at Stellenbosch University was indescribably helpful and always available for any of my questions. They assisted in countless ways to make this whole exchange program possible and even managed to excite me over and above my expectations with their insights and advice. When the study bursary was paid out, all that was left to do was the final and most essential element: to book the flight. With this done reality struck, I would have to then organize my life into the airlines baggage allowance policy. It was not simply deciding what would be necessary to be taken with but also saying goodbye to family and friends. Slowly every day that passed was one day closer to my scheduled departure date but in the meantime classes still continued and I had to prepare for my final round of tests to have a good pred (law students still need to write their Stellenbosch exams from abroad) and to maintain the academic standard required as an exchange prerequisite.
Finally with my suitcases packed and a myriad of touching goodbyes I was ready to head out to the airport and to embark on my journey to Belgium.
Experience at Host Institution:
I arrived in Leuven not expecting that I would find a breathtakingly beautiful medieval city. I was absolutely captivated by my surroundings and the history visible everywhere, even the cobblestone alleyways just exude a sense of mystery as if they have silently witnessed time itself pass by. Upon registration I received a KU Leuven student card, officially making me a student here. Consequently the university has an exciting week-long orientation program for the new international students. There everyone gets to meet people from everywhere whilst being informed about every possible detail of living in Belgium. A city tour is also organized where we were taken through countless monuments and guided through the history of a place as old as this, suddenly we found out about world heritage sites in the city and taken to the central university library that would put Hogwarts to shame (even after being burnt and rebuilt three times as a result of wars and invasions). The orientation week was an absolute pleasure that served to soothe us into the academic year. The next week each faculty then did its own orientation program where course specific information was conveyed to us.
Another week later and classes start. Coming from South Africa we have the advantage of being very familiar with English as a language of tuition. Most of my peers here are experiencing their first exposure to being taught in their non-native language and are slightly anxious. The university buildings are beautiful beyond imagination. They have fortified walls and enormous gates at each of the colleges, the colleges are the historic buildings wherein the lectures are given. Sculptured gardens, ancient ivy-bedecked stone walls and stained glass windows do not let you forget you are in Europe just as the mounds of bicycles keep reminding you that you are indeed in the Low Countries.
The teaching is superb and all the professors are veiled in a grace of proficiency and genius. Curiously however the method of evaluation is vastly different to Stellenbosch. There is usually only one exam, it accounts for the totality of the grade (there is no concept of pred) and often the exam is only an oral exam taken with the professor themselves. How this all will work out we shall see…
The lectures here are very personalized; there are 20-35 people in a lecture hall as opposed to much larger volumes at the Stellenbosch Faculty of Law. Professors indulge in much more student participation and constantly request that students challenge them and have discussions. This makes the whole learning experience feel much more alive and engaging.
Every day as I walk to my lectures I am just awestruck, equally by what I see around me and just as much for the realisation that I am actually here and all of this is true. My destiny that brought me here is nothing short of astonishing and every day I am grateful to be able to be here. After many semesters as a student, this one may probably be the finest one yet!