Week 1 in Belgium

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During the first week of the program, it was a nice change of scene that offered multiple opportunities to open my mind. For starters, as soon as one arrives in Belgium, the difference in scenary and architecture is striking with its grand gothic buildings. These types of buildings are scattered throughout both Brussels and Leuven and starkly contrasted the modern architecture that Americans are used to. Moreover, what surprised me about these types of buildings is that they were built centuries ago, and that they were reforemed multiple times throughout history, contrary to my intial belief that they were more recent and therefore did not require additional rebuildings.

Learning more about the cultural differences between the United States and Belgium was also extremely interesting, specially hearing about the Groot Begijnhof. The historical neighborhood being conserved and used by students nowadays is so great as it gives a those century-old buildings a new chance to being useful even in the 21st century. Moreover, the plaza experiencing business every day of the week where the local population and student body gather to have food and drinks is so interesting and a lovely sight to see.

In terms of intellectual information, getting the opportunity to speak with personal at EEAS and NATO was fantastic and very informative. I learned a lot about the role that technology plays in these organization and how future technologies might impact the political state of the world even more. I look forward to learning more in the next 3 weeks!