ERASMUS - the bitter end

Atomium, Brussels.

BLOCUS

The Belgian exam period, so-called blocus, is now over (at least for me). It's been difficult to study all my courses together. I felt my head was a big pot where I threw in all different kinda theoretical concepts. The thing is, I ended up with a big mixed soup!

Most of my exams were multiple-choice-questions, based on books, often written by the class professors themselves. Of course, it was highly specific. But they made it even harder! For instance, I was asked to choose the right statement among four propositions and to justify my choice for each statement. Quite confusing!




All in all, it's been a quite stressful period. I'm glad it's over! Obviously, I "enjoy" more the Swedish examination system: one course at a time. The exams themselves are harder (open questions and discussions) but there is less confusion. At least my schedule was clearer! Anyway, my exchange semester as an Erasmus student ended with my last exam.

UGENT

Among the six Belgian universities ranked in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking, I spent my semester at Universiteit Gent (World rank: 93rd). 

Course code   -   Course name                                      -   ECTS credits

I was following 6 courses: Marketing Communication, Managing Service Organizations, Innovation & Technology Management, Financing High-Tech Entrepreneurial companies and Business-to-Business Marketing at the UGent and Strategic Human Resource Management at HogeSchool Gent.

If everything goes smoothly, I'll collect 32 ects credits which will be integrated in my master program at Linköping University (thanks to my Learning Agreement). Additionally, I had a Dutch class (4 ects credits) at UCT, but that was just "for fun"!

But all these data don't say much about my proper experience. Overall, I liked my exchange! Even though I've already studied some concepts before, the courses' content was interesting and for some, stimulating. However, I had trouble with Dutch. Meaning, a lack of English translation. Finding information on their online platform (Minerva) or from their emails was rather messy! During an exam, the teacher even gave the instructions in Dutch. No English! 

More critics? I found the professors inaccessible (I had two appointments with a teacher who didn't show up! On the third one, he was busy on the phone for 20mn. I gave up.); I missed feedback from them: 3 months after an assignment, still no grades (counting for 40% of the final grade); and I found bizarre that most of them ask the students to buy their own published books (e.g. I'd have to pay 70€ for a book!).

Nevertheless, I had the chance to meet great people outside the classrooms. That's what matters!

MASTER THESIS

Game on! While I was studying for my exams at UGent, my SMIO classmates at Linköping University were attending the introductory seminars on the Master Thesis, since January 21st. The thesis kick-off is based on a book: Tricks of the Trade - how to think about your research while you're doing it (H.S. Becker, 1998) which gives us lots of examples about what to (not) write and most importantly, through the author's experience in social sciences.

The fourth and last semester of my SMIO program is fully dedicated to the master thesis. In pair of two students, we have to hand in our pre-final version by the end of April, and the final version by the end of May. Each group has a supervisor to provide some guidelines along the process. Our 50-70 pages document will then be evaluated on its problem consideration, structure and logic, theoretical support, frame of reference, research method, empirical data report, analysis, and conclusions. We'll also have to defend our final thesis in public seminars upon the final version.

Waffle bus, Brussels.

The last month has been quite overwhelming with exams and thesis work. Although I loved Belgium with the beers, the chocolate, the fries and the waffles. But, to live in Brussels, you gotta like grey. Then it's perfect for you. So many different nuances of grey that you'll never be bored. But I was!

I'm looking forward being back in Linköping, Sweden. I missed mother Nature, the coziness of the city center and the university facilities. I'll enjoy my final semester at LiU! I'll keep you updated under the thesis writing process ;)

Now, it's time to pack. It's a few hours drive to get to the ferry bringing us back to Sweden...



Tot ziens België!

TOTEM - Franky Verdickt @ A&Gallery

A&Gallery
Photo © Franky Verdickt

Since I discovered Angels & Ghosts Gallery in Ghent, I follow their diverse activities. Aside from photo exhibitions, the gallery owners Wouter Van Vaerenbergh and Ben Van Alboom publish the newspapers Not Another Graphic Designer and The A&Gazette (already 4 editions). A month ago, Elisabeth Ouni was exhibiting 'A Polaroid Story', which I really liked. Now, A&Gallery hosts Franky Verdickt.

Franky Verdickt is a photographer based in Brussels, who graduated in 2007 with a Master in Photography (with honors) from the school of visual arts Sint Lukas Brussels. The same year, he traveled to Amsterdam to receive the prestigious Photo Academy Award. In July 2007, he joined Photolimits — a Belgian based platform for documentary photography. Five years of exhibitions in Beijing, Paris, Madrid and Copenhagen: Franky Verdickt is now exhibiting 'Totem' in A&Gallery, a project way more engaged than documentary photography!

Here we live.
Photo © Franky Verdickt

‘True, but I really can’t be bothered with labels. I like taking photographs – and that includes experimenting with different styles and techniques. I guess it’s like being able to speak more than one language. I’m sure some people are perfectly fine only speaking Dutch for the rest of their lives but I also like to communicate in French or English. I look at photography in the same way: one minute I’m shooting construction workers for a documentary project, the next I point my camera in a different direction to take a photograph for Totem. I feel it’s okay for a photographer to do that. In fact, I wish more photographers did. A lot of them are just tak- ing the same pictures over and over again – not even slightly embracing the possibilities photography has to offer but calling themselves artists nonetheless. Seriously, for photography to be art, you’re required to do something with it.’

 Franky Verdickt
source: A&Gazette Vol. II, n.2

Real Estate Paradise.
Photo © Franky Verdickt

For his project, the photographer went to China, Egypt and Brazil over 3 years, pursuing his obsession with how people build homes:

‘I find it fascinating how our lives are so gravely effected by the place where we live yet a lot of people rely on big developers to build them a house or an apartment. Oh, but don’t worry: the brochure said the new place will be so you and I guess a lot of those houses and apartments actually do have everything a person requires. So how come they feel so cold and empty?

Take the hutongs in Beijing per example: one day you’re living in a community where everybody knows your name, then the government forces you out of your home to build an enormous apartment building where you get to spend the rest of your life not knowing anybody. True, you got a new house — nice and clean; and let’s not forget there’s air-conditioning — but often there’s a huge difference between a house and a home.’

Franky Verdickt 

source: A&Gazette Vol. II, n.2 

The Pastoral Living.
Photo © Franky Verdickt.

Don't be mistaken then: a home is not a house. 

Totem emphasizes a global reality today. Real estate businesses (both public and private) are throwing people our of their own homes, to put them in a new house. On the long-term, these new residential buildings are more expensive than their former homes because of multiple reasons (augmented services which the new residents never asked for). Eventually, they have to move out of their new house, leaving their spot for richer people.

Homeless in their house.

Who is responsible then: the governments? the real estate agencies?

Totem.
Photo © Franky Verdickt.

All exhibited prints are for sale; signed and numbered by Franky Verdickt.
- See A&Gallery staff for more information or send an email to email(at)angels-ghosts.com.

From November 8th until 24th, 2012 (11am - 6pm) at Schepenhuisstraat 17, 9000 Ghent.

Moving out of my student room at UGent

Voilà, my girlfriend got an internship in the European district in Brussels for the next 3 months. This is exactly the time I've left at UGent until I go back to Linköping University in Sweden and work my ass-off on my Master Thesis. I figured out I'd move to Brussels for the time left and commute to Ghent (1h approx.) for classes and group meetings. The only thing was to leave my student room in the University Residence; in other words, cancel my contract with the UGent Housing Department.

This contract has a minimum rental period of 3 months. Before signing it, I made sure it was possible to shorten this rental period with the Housing Department's person in charge (Myriam Van den Branden). That's why I signed a contract to rent my student room from September 1st until November 30th, planning to move in a bit later (September 20th) and shorten the contract shortly after arrival. However, Myriam informed me that the only possibility to move out of my student room would be to:

- find another Erasmus student (not free-movers, PhD or Belgian students) at UGent (not Hogeschool) 

- willing to rent a student room in the University Residence

- hence, signing a new contract (with a minimum rental period of 3 months) with the Housing Department

- from my departure date: October 31st — when I move in Brussels and after 2 months of contract (even though I didn't even used the room for 1,5 month).

Finding this key person was difficult. Well, impossible. I looked where Erasmus students hanged out most of the time: Facebook. Even though I found similar students desperately looking to move out of their student room, and others not even considering living in the University residence; I couldn't find anyone interested. Neither did the Housing Department: the waiting list was empty!

My last shot should have been to sub-rent my room on the private market for only 1 month. But that's stated as forbidden in my contract. In the best case: I'd get expelled of my room and that's what I want, right? In the worst case: I'd get expelled of my room, I'd still pay for the last month due and they'd keep my deposit of 135€. Screwed!

Eventually, I didn't even have to take any risks because no one wants a student room in the University Residence. Why then? First of all, it's expensive compared to the private market where a furnished studio can be found from 300€/month (contracts with minimum rental periods as well). Then, the kitchen facilities aren't suitable for students: they have to bring or buy everything (pans, cutlery, etc.), usually only for a short stay and it's not enough equipped for everybody (approx. 20 rooms) using the kitchen at the same time (no oven, a single microwave). There are only 3 washing machines (3,5€ without the powder) for everybody and the 2 driers, well, they don't dry (once, I waited 2h without results)! Also, some rooms aren't practical, they are all different so you just gotta be lucky! Eventually, the monthly Internet usage restrictions of 12GB bandwidth is too limited.

Anyway. I'll pay my November's rent of 391€ even though I don't live in my student room anymore. I'm deeply sorry for the students having trouble finding a room for a short stay in Ghent, but the administrative paperworks from the UGent Housing Department made it impossible.

391€. The price to be able to live with my girlfriend in the capitale of Europe?

A Polaroid Story - Elisabeth Ouni @ A&Gallery

A&Gallery, founded in March 2011 in Ghent, Belgium stands for Angels & Ghosts. Over the past year, this art gallery exhibited the work of Moby, Sophie Van der Perre, Frederik Buyckx, Jessica Yatrofsky, Storm Thorgerson, Athos Burez and Angels & Ghosts (the black & white portrait series of the owners: Wouter Van Vaerenbergh and Ben Van Alboom). 

Pharrell Williams

From October 11th 'till 27th, Elisabeth Ouni was exhibiting her work there: A Polaroid Story. She is a Belgian model/Polaroid photographer. She basically travels around taking polaroids of her favorite artists...most of them being hip-hop artists! 

“It’s about chasing instant moments in time – a journey I embarked on a few years ago out of my love for music first, my love for Polaroid second and a healthy dose of curiosity for the music industry. Behind every Polaroid there is a story – sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious. With every story I try to explain to my readers why I love this artist, producer or personality so much. And if I’m lucky enough, the story is topped off with a pretty Polaroid. This exhibition is the next chapter of the journey I want to take. You might call it The Bigger Picture. I will put as much love in it as in my stories. I hope you will too.”

- Elisabeth Ouni 

Terry Richardson and his mum

On the last day of the exhibition, I visited A&Gallery and I really loved A Polaroid Story. Elisabeth Ouni makes it very clear that she is not a journalist, photographer or groupie, but her thrill merely comes from being a fan who is able to capture private moments with her favorite celebrities. Since Polaroid instant film and cameras have been defunct for more than 3 years now, this makes her photo series even more precious. When she is not chasing down one of her favorite emcees, she uses her skills learned as a former model to build her blossoming business Ouni Inc., where her various roles includes photographer, art director, producer and videographer. Check out Elisabeth's last updates on her blog or facebook ;) 

La femme (FR) @ Vooruit

 “Sur La Planche has shades of Stereolab and Ladytron, but also of UK new wave.”
- THE GUARDIAN: La Femme as 'New Band of the Day'

La Femme is a French band from Paris, Biarritz and Brittany. They already completed a crazy U.S. tour that should lead to a short film. They're now getting ready touring in Europe. Cool kids of 17 years old and more, that the record industry is already fighting to sign them behind the scene; which made their freedom, their most valuable asset. 

The electro music with pop melodies is in between the 80's and 90's. Their songs recall the Taxi Girl, the Drums, the Young Marble Giants as well as the early tracks of Diabologum. Their first EP called Le Podium no.1 (which the cover is a tribute to The Origin of the World by Gustave Courbet) has been released by the Third Side Records almost two years ago. Then they released another EP called Paris 2012 one year later.

Their album should come out in early 2013. In the meantime, they were playing for free at Vooruit last Wednesday. There was a really chilled atmosphere going on during the concert. La Femme played famous and unknown songs for a bit more than an hour (encore included) and everybody seemed to like it ;)

Almost Cinema @ Vooruit

Vooruit is a famous historic art complex in Ghent, Belgium. Built a century ago, it witnessed the socialist revolution going on at the time, adding symbolic value to the architectural monument. Literally meaning forward in English, it is used for any artistic purposes: concert, exhibitions, projections, debates, parties, etc. and there is even a trendy café, frequented by the coolest people in town.

From October 8th to 20th, the Film Festival Gent was having its 39th edition. Each year, about 130'000 spectators watch 100 features and 30 shorts films from all across the world. Since 2001, it is organizing  the World Soundtrack Awards for the best compositors.

Twelve days on the border between film, media art and music. - Almost Cinema

Almost Cinema is a co-production between Vooruit and the Ghent Film Festival for 12 days. It starts where traditional film stops. The artists are influenced by the cinematic medium but leave the beaten track, opting for new unknown paths instead. They play with elements of the cinema in an unexpected way in different installations, projections, exhibitions, etc. which challenges the visitors to take a look at the cinema from a new point of view.

Yesterday, October 20th was the closing party of Almost Cinema and ESN invited us for a visit together with other students there. It took us about 1h30 to go through a only few artists exhibits. Among the most interesting pieces, a few deserve more exposure:

Transporter

Tranporter by Lawrence Malstaf. This was two conveyor belts running very slowly in opposite directions. Rolls and wheels hidden underneath add a tactile dimension to the experience. I got my back massaged during the 3 rides I took on his machine. This large mobile environments dealing with space and orientation use the visitor as a co-actor. Great!

Solace

Solace by Nicky Assmann. This is an installation that creates crazy patterns and colors via giant soap films. The visitor can interact with the colors by softly blowing on them. The soap refracts the light as the water from the mixture rolls down, creating a fluid vision mostly reserved for hallucinations. Gravity eventually pulls the liquid downward, creating a dance of color and light until the film eventually breaks apart (or when some ignorant children barely barely touch it).

In Transit by HC Gilje. It's a 15 m long animated light installation, located in the Vooruit's attic. It's composed of a series of identical white frames and a white light moving over them across the space, over and over again, lighting them up but also animating their shadows.

Yesterday, the Ghent Film Festival was closing with 'Passion' by Brian De Palma. lberto Iglesias was chosen as Film Composer of the Year 2012, for his soundtracks for ‘The Monk’, ‘The Skin I Live In' and ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ (film which also gave him the Best Original Film Score of the Year award). In the meantime, Almost Cinema threw its own closing party with a projection of the documentary Sound of Belgium, and live music by De Ledebirds and the French touch of the Mireilles. 

Belgian Cuisine: French Fries at De Gouden Saté

"The inhabitants of Namur, Andenne, and Dinant, had the custom of fishing in the Meuse for small fish and frying, especially among the poor, but when the river was frozen and fishing became hazardous, they cut potatoes in the form of small fish and put them in a fryer like those here." 

Is the French fries Belgian? - Jo Gérard. 

In the XVIIth century, the French fries as we know them today, were invented by Belgian fishermen used to fry their food. When American soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War I, they tried the fries and they called them 'French Fries' because the Belgian army was speaking French at the time. Meanwhile in Dutch, it's called FRIETEN!

In Belgium, the place to buy some fries is called 'Frituur' (Dutch) or 'Friteries' (French). You get them with a large variety of sauces and eaten either on their own or with other snacks such as frikandelle or burgers. Traditionally, they are served in a 'Frietzak' (Dutch) or 'Cornet de frites' (French) which is a white cardboard cone, then wrapped in paper, with a good spoonful of sauce on the top. 

In Ghent, De Gouden Saté is the most popular place among the locals and the students to get their snacks. Open everyday for lunch (11am-2pm) and at night (5pm-7am), there are some folks queuing at any time! I guess it takes time to make good food. Usually, there is a 10-15mn waiting time.

"Ask anybody to bring you to Julien's and you'll get there real quick!"                           - Belgian student.

Julien & Peter are the owners and a third staff member allow them to open that long. They ask orders one-by-one in the queue, while strategically frying different stuff at the demand. Nothing is ready in advance like at McDonalds!

Me and Hugo Claus.

Among the wide variety of sausages and other strange meat, perhaps the most popular ones are the Bicky Burgers. Created in 1981, they are sold in every kinda snacks like De Gouden Saté. It's a fried burger (a mix between chicken, pork and horse meat) topped with three sauces (the yellow Bicky Dressing, the Red Bicky Ketchup and the brown Bicky Hot Sauce), crispy onions and pickles served in a sesame sprinkled bun. But don’t be fooled. It’s still a snack and not a Michelin star experience. 

Another dish is the Hugo Claus. Really popular among the locals, it's a big pack of fries, drawn in stew sauce with mayonnaise and satay seasoning, topped with dried onions and fried meet. 

It even has a Facebook page.

Once the order is ready, you gotta find a less frequented street and if possible, a rain shelter. The best option remains a nice bar with friends to help the digestion with a good local beer!

BELGIAN CUISINE 

- FRIES: CHECKED.

Hogeschool Gent - Faculty of Public and Business Administration

Even though I already selected my courses and the modification period was over; my request to change one more course has be accepted. I decided to quit the class on Analytical Customer Relationship Management. Instead, I enrolled at Hogeschool Gent a partnered university of UGent.

Founded in 1995 when 14 institutions merged together, Hogeschool Gent is now the largest University College Institution (kinda Business School) in Flanders, Belgium. There are 18.000 students divided in eight faculties. The faculty of Public and Business Administration provides one of the five English-taught Master programmes at Hogeschool, the International Management Programme (IMP). 

My schedule (updated)

Part of the IMP, the course I follow is Strategic Human Resource Management (HRM). It takes place once a week (Tuesday morning) and is worth 6 ECTS credits. That's why I still keep a total of 34 ECTS credits for my Erasmus semester. The course shifts from operational HRM to strategic HRM by looking at it through a four dimensions framework:

- Instrumental dimension: rules, procedures, work systems, administration, paperwork

- People dimension: motivation, working conditions, leadership, internal communication

- Strategic dimension: strategy, goals and objectives, measurement, added value

- Organizational dimension: structure and culture, organizational design, organizational development

We're quite a number of students in the classroom, but most of them are Belgian and I didn't meet so much Erasmus. Sometime in November, I'll come back on this class because of a 1 day-seminar in Nieuwpoort on the Belgium coast, at the Hotel Cosmopolite.

Student Opening of Ghent University

Yesterday, the UGent Communication department organized the Student Opening of Ghent University at the student house De Therminal. They invited all students of UGent for this free event, so I went along with some Erasmus friends.

UGent rector: Paul Van Cauwenberge

We waited 45mn outside with a lot of other students (mostly Belgian), but it was worth the champagne we received at the entrance. The evening started with speeches from, among others, rector Paul Van Cauwenberge and Ghent mayor Daniel Termont, unfortunately, everything was held in Dutch. So I didn't get anything of what was going on. Instead, I was looking for the sexy girls with the food trays! The usual tasty snacks and small portions served at formal receptions.

Stand-up comedian: Koen Dewulf

The other good thing was the free drinks: six beers and one cocktail for each of us. Of course, everybody was suit up, there was a nice work on the lights and students staff were handling the evening. That's when the stand-up comedian Koen Dewulf started his show...in Dutch. When I asked him about an English version, he said that it was very Flemish jokes so it won't be funny anymore. Well, I still gave some hypocrite applause with the rest of the room!

Acoustic band: Trio Bluf

Around 23 p.m. it was time for the acoustic cover band Trio Bluf to start playing. It actually turned the evening into a real party! The three guys were motivating the crowd by moving among us the whole time! This gave enough incentive to the bartender for some bottle jugglery (see video below)! Later on, we left the reception and we continued the party elsewhere, let's say, less formal.

                   Kasim from Bartenders on the road.

Guest Lecturer: Thomas Bonte from MuseScore

During my Friday morning class on Technological Innovations Management, the teacher welcomed a guest speaker: Thomas Bonte. Almost graduated from UGent, he stopped his engineering program to pursue his entrepreneurial idea. At first, there was a problem that most of musicians experience when they look for new songs to play: they would buy a big expensive book which is not really practical and not really the format they need — music scores are different for piano, guitar, flute, etc. Thomas' idea was to provide an online database of music scores for piano players, based on the exchange in between users.

In 2006, the entrepreneur in collaboration with others from Ghent institutions created Wikifonia. It was an online sheet music database using the Wikipedia system of sharing knowledge, where users could upload, collaborate, comment and download music scores for piano in Pdf or MusicXML formats. Even though this website is still running and users still register to share their music, Thomas Bonte continued to pursue his idea further. He wanted to design a software where it could be possible to edit the music score.

Thomas Bonte (BE), Werner Schweer (DE) and Nicolas Froment (FR) launched MuseScore in 2008. This free open-source musical notation program (available on Apple, Windows and Linux OS) revolutionized the music score writing market, previously divided between Sibelius and Finale. These softwares allow the users to create, edit and print various types of musical scores. The sheet music can be played back by the user through the built-in sequencer and sample library. It is also available for tablets and smartphones. Of course, everything can be exported, shared over social networks and played back by anyone. Finally, MuseScore is available in 48 languages.

With almost 4 millions downloads over 5 years, MuseScore became the leader of the industry.

In 2011, a project was launched to create high-quality print and audio versions of the Goldberg Variations — composed by J.S. Bach. A Kickstarter campaign was launched and they got the necessary $15 000 to develop the project. Thomas Bonte and the rest of MuseScore developers collaborated to create both an engraved score and an audio recording of the song performed by the musician Kimiko Ishizaka (see video below). The final engraved score was created entirely in MuseScore, and is available for download free of charge.

Thomas Bonte

Money wise, the developers are still a small team of 3 and they get their salaries from the users upgrading their account to Pro for $49 a year. This is necessary to go beyond the limit of 5 uploads if the user wants to share more music scores. Now, MuseScore 2.0 is under development and Thomas Bonte is still raising funds to continue the projects.

MuseScore, a really interesting entrepreneurial and technological innovation that I'll keep track on!

Business Administration courses at UGent

Yes, that's my schedule. It shouldn't change so much from now on, as the deadline to change my courses was 2 days ago. From my initial Learning Agreement, I only changed one course: Market Research Methods became Business to Business Marketing; and I also have the Dutch class. All the classes started, some sounded very interesting, others not... 

The UGent Rector, alias me.

Marketing Communication (6 ECTS credits) - Based on the book Marketing Communications (written by the teacher), the course is evaluated on group-work / case studies (50%) and on a final exam (50%). We will talk about integrated communications, branding, communication models, the instruments of marketing communication and the measurement of marketing communications effectiveness.

Analytical Customer Relationship Management (CRM) (6 ECTS credits) - Representing the last part of the supply chain (contact with final customers), this course introduces us to the analytical tools to carry out projects in CRM. These tools are part of the analytical software SAS, which we will be evaluated on (twice). I'm a novice with SAS, so I'm still struggling a lot with it! 

Financing High-Tech Entrepreneurial Companies (4 ECTS credits) - Understanding, analyzing and making financial decisions in entrepreneurial, unquoted companies. Given the large information asymmetries, uncertainty and potential agency problems, traditional financing methods are often inappropriate. The class is based on the book Financing Entrepreneurial Companies (written by the teacher) and 80% of the grade is on the final exam, while the remaining 20% are given on a case study.

Managing Service Organizations (4 ECTS credits) - We'll learn how to perform an in-depth analysis of a service organisation in terms of strategic as well as operational management issues: it is important to acquire a good feeling of the specificity of service delivery processes. Based on the book Services Management (written by the teacher), there is a final exam (60% of the final grade) and a business game called ServiceSim (40%) which is a business simulation where we'll have to take strategic/operational decisions in group over two months. Finally, each of us has to make a case study report, only once:

Innovation and Technology Management (4 ECTS credits) - Based on the book Strategic Management of Technological Innovations, this course tries to integrate different views into one concept in which innovation is represented as a strategic process. The course deals with three different components: the industrial dynamics of innovation; the strategic choices which have to be made by organisations in this environment and the implementation of these choices. We'll be evaluated in a final exam (50%) and by group on case studies and class discussions (50%).

Business to Business (B2B) Marketing (6 ECTS credits) - Based on the book Business Market Management, the course is organized around three core business market processes: understanding, creating, and delivering value. More specifically, we'll learn about: market segmentation, customer value management, building customer value models, understanding customer firms, constructing flexible market offerings, pricing, business channel management, and E-business. Divided in groups of 6 students, we'll have to report on 3 case studies (30% of final grade). Of course, there'll be a final exam (70% of the grade) as usual!

These courses are either part of the Master in Business Engineering or the Master in Business Economics. All in all, this should give me 30 ECTS credits (+ 4 with the Dutch course) at the end of the semester! From my Swedish Master program, there are quite some organizational changes, mostly due to the fact that at UGent, all the courses are taking place over the whole semester, whereas I had one course after another at Linköping University. But I'll get used to it I guess :)

PS to my French friends in Brittany: the first crêpes session took place! 

We cooked about 3 kilos for the International Dinner of ESN, everything was gone quite quickly :p

Student Kick-Off

In the largest student city of Belgium, the academic year usually starts with a big event: the Student Kick-Off. This year, it was last wednesday, on September 26th 2012, at St-Pietersplein. This welcome party for students by students is already in its 7th edition and has become the biggest student event in Flanders. This Student Kick-Off is the result of an intense cooperation between the students of UGent (and their unions), the City of Ghent and all the higher education institutions in Ghent.

Last year, 36.000 people attended the party hosting The Vengaboys under a great sun. By the way, since 2011, the entrance is set to 1€ which is entirely given to humanitarian funds. Every year numerous activities are organized on site. Students can also visit a huge info village with interactive and original stands of the Ghent Student Unions, the higher education institutions, the City of Ghent and associations of Ghent...

Before the event, I helped building the stage and other handyworks with other students. All in all, there were 900 students involved in the Student Kick-Off! I thought it was a good opportunity to meet some locals, outside of the ESN bubble. In exchange of our good work, we got lunch & drinks; as well as two beer-vouchers per hour worked, to be exchanged during the event.

The crowded entrance!

The party opened around noon and the first concert started a bit later. People were getting in by only one entrance, which was overwhelmed quite fast, making us queueing for some time! We enjoyed a few beers, listening to the pop folk of Absynthe Minded and getting all crazy on the Balkan Hip-Hop tracks by Merdan Taplak. Unfortunately, the DJ tent (sponsored by Monster) was full so no one could get in. In the meantime, it started to rain :/

 <<  Live video of Merdan Taplak.

>> Some pics of the night: link.

First steps at UGent

During the Welcome Days (September 21-22), we were about 850 incoming exchange students to gather in a big amphitheater, to receive general information about Ghent, the university facilities, the housing services, the student organizations, and so on... We all got a free lunch! I guess it was worth to attend then. We received a lot of paperworks to deal with in the upcoming days, some documents to send back to our home university and all this kinda annoying things which takes so much time!

As I said earlier, I got my student room in one of the 10 university halls of residence (Canterburry). For 31.200 students at UGent only (with 2600 international students), there is only 700 rooms available for foreign students. That makes it hard to get an accommodation for Erasmus students! At first I liked the room: not too small, quite recent and well-arranged with a small fridge. Unfortunately the rest isn't so great: it was pretty dusty; I didn't have warm water to shower; there is no oven, no pans or pots, no plates or cutlery in the kitchen; the laundry is expensive and there isn't much wash-machines for all the rooms. All of that for 391€/month! That's why I'm looking for something else from November 1st, but the university housing department doesn't want to cancel my contract for shorter than 3 months!

About my courses, a few of them already start this week. Unfortunately, I will have to make some changes in the courses chosen in my Learning Agreement. Actually, one class has an entrance test requiring an advanced level in statistics and using SPSS, which I never studied before so I better take another class! I'll make a separate post about that when I know more about it I guess.

Otherwise, I also registered for a Dutch course every Monday evening! As exchange student at UGent, I received a voucher (value: 169€) to take this class at the University Language Center (UCT), reducing the fee to 50€: for books and administrative costs. This class is 3 hours per week and gives 4 additional ECTS credits.

With studentENmobiliteit, I should get a bike for 30€ when I rent it for 6 months, repairs and 2 locks included. I think it's necessary to go downtown or groceries without wasting too much time walking up and down the hills! I just hope it doesn't rain that much (sigh).

That's all for now. Laters!

Hallo Gent

Here I am. Backpack closed and train tickets printed. Ready to go. I'm leaving tomorrow for Ghent, Belgium. In the mean time, I checked things out on Universiteit Gent and I also received some general information about it.

Rijksuniversiteit Gent (State University of Ghent in Dutch) is one of the larger Flemish universities, with 32.000 students and 7.100 staff members. It was established in 1817 and French was the academic language until 1930 when it became the first Dutch-speaking university in Belgium. In 1991, the university was granted major autonomy and changed its name to Universiteit Gent.

Ghent University consists of 11 faculties - Arts and Philosophy; Law; Sciences; Medicine and Health Sciences; Engineering and Architecture; Economics and Business Administration; Veterinary Medicine; Psychology and Educational Sciences; Bio-science Engineering; Pharmaceutical Sciences; & Political and Social Sciences - , composed of more than 130 departments. In 2012, 143 new exchange students are going to study at my faculty, while 74 go abroad. Finally, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), ranked Ghent University at the 1st position in Belgium only, and at the 89th spot worldwide (whereas Linköping University is 8-11th in Sweden and 301-400th worldwide!).

That's all I can say for now. But I'm really looking forward the Welcome Days (and the following week) organized by ESN (Erasmus Student Network). I hope to get a full taste of Belgian's delights: wafle, beer, chocolate and fries! Maybe there'll be another Chocolate tasting fair soon at the uni! :)