Weekend Getaway to the Belgian Coast #HogsAbroad in Belgium

Weekend Getaway to the Belgian Coast 

This weekend, the Arkansas crew had an amazing opportunity to go to the Belgian coast and visit two other major cities in Belgium! After finishing up two successful days in the classroom and touring a bio-based plant on Thursday and Friday, we hit the road on Saturday morning. 

We started out with a trip to the sand dunes in the Northwest corner of Belgium, and went through a guided nature walk with a wonderfully enthusiastic man named Herman (pictured). Herman had an unbridled enthusiasm about all of the plants in the park, and their different useful qualities, and about making sure we were engaged, which made for an overall enjoyable experience. From there, we headed out to a land yacht club, where we were able to try our hands at land sailing! We were definitely in more of a tourist area, and there were an increasing number of French speakers there as compared to Dutch speakers, due to our close proximity to the French border at the yacht club. This was one of the more noticeable changes I observed in that area, especially after being around Dutch speakers in Gent, and in Flanders (the Northern region of Belgium) in general.

After an interesting experience with the land yachts that involved less-than-favorable wind conditions and a graceful nose dive into a land yacht by yours truly, we then drove to the city of Ostend. We stayed in a beautiful and historic hotel right on the beachfront known as the Thermae Palace, which was certainly an apt description. The entire time we stayed there, I felt like I was living on the set of a classic 1950s movie, which was absolutely enchantin g. Most of the other tourists I saw staying in this particular hotel were older. In terms of the food system in Ostend, fish seemed to be very prominent, which makes complete sense considering its proximity to the North Sea. The beachfront near our hotel was beautiful, and on Sunday morning, was filled with families and couples enjoying a morning on the boardwalk and beach, picking up ice cream or stopping for a nice lunch. The people in Ostend seemed to take life at a slower pace than those of Gent, but that could be due to my limited impression of them.

On Sunday morning, we were able to venture through the city of Ostend via a go-cart scavenger hunt, which was a surprisingly fun time. I was on a team with Elle, Kendrick, and Dr. Runkle (pictured left), and we succeeded in obtaining second place, while seeing several major areas of Ostend! I find it interesting that in Ostend and Gent, bicycles are quite common, and that bike lanes are everywhere. Also, bikes often can get the right of way, which is nice anytime we biked anywhere. In Ostend, no one seemed surprised by us riding around all of the streets on go carts during our scavenger hunt, and I saw multiple people driving around in golf carts as well, particularly by the beach. 

At around one on Sunday, we left Ostend for Bruges via train! We were able to take a boat tour through the canals of Bruges, which allowed us to have a more scenic view of the city. Bruges is a city trapped in time; it feels a little bit more like a fairy tale than it does real life, and as a result, is incredibly touristy. Most of the city was clearly geared towards tourists, with some local life, but not much. Unfortunately, we arrived at the tower of Bruges (pictured right) too late to go up into it, but we were able to explore a flea market, walk around a significant portion of the city streets, and even venture into a rock café, which was a bit of a juxtaposition. The owner of this café played “Hotel California” courtesy of Zach’s request, for “us Americans,” and played some of Twenty One Pilots’ music, which a nice treat. Bruges was certainly a beautiful city, but I was happy to go back to Gent on Sunday night via a quick train ride.
In general, I’ve noticed that Belgians tend to dress nicer than the average American does, and that each person seems to have a more individualistic style. Most of the locals will speak to you, in Ostend and Gent anyway, if you ask them something, but do not necessarily go out of their way to make conversation. Around Gent and the Gent countryside, people have automatically assumed we speak Dutch until they hear us respond or look slightly confused, which I find interesting, since I feel like we stick out fairly obviously. Additionally, I am impressed by the extent of the mass public transportation all throughout Belgium, something that Arkansas and Oklahoma definitely lack. We traveled by train very conveniently twice this weekend, and it was a very natural thing to do. Gent also has an extensive network of trams that go through the city, in addition to multiple buses. Ostend had a similar system, and according to Hilde, our in-country host, it’s fairly affordable to travel using these services.

This weekend provided an enjoyable break and exposure to other cities in Belgium, and broadened my perspective of the country as a whole. I appreciated the opportunity to contrast my experience so far in Gent with that of two other major cities in Belgium, and am looking forward to spending one final week in Gent!

--
Kendrick, a senior Biological Engineering major, spent the Summer 2017 studying on our U of A Faculty-Led: Sustainability in the Euro Food System program.
Read more from Kendrick at https://kendrickchardaway.wordpress.com/
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/