Welcome in Belgium : The atypical country

Hi,

As you could see, I live in Belgium. It is my native country and it is a really complicated one.
First of all, in Belgium we speak three main languages : French, Dutch and German.

Belgium is divided in three parts with Brussels in the middle.
There are : Flanders (where they speak dutch)
, Wallonia (french part) and the german side (german) which is really small but official.

Brussels, which is in the middle, is a real multicultural city. You can hear some english, arabic, french, dutch, german, chinese…But the most spoken language is french.
There is a lot of stereotypes about Belgium : French fries (actually it is Belgian fries), chocolates, and beers of course! But we also have stereotypes about ourselves.
For example, the walloon people see the dutch people as rich, sometimes cold, flat earth, as Fashion people, artistic, they also think about the sea (yes the sea is in the dutch part), a lot of farms, bikes, socks (yes I don’t know why), and « pindakaas » which is peanut butter (it is heaven, you need to taste this!!).

On the other hand, dutch people see the walloon as poor, party people, warm people, hills, fashion people as well, sirop de Liège (syrup)!
But do not worry it is just some stereotypes!
We also have a complicated politic situation...but it is way too complicated :D

Me, I come from Waterloo. It’s the city where Napoleon lost against England.

Waterloo is famous for his history. 18th June 1815 was the "Bataille de Waterloo". The name of this war, was due to the Wellington Duc who lived in waterloo and won the war against Napoleon (he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again briefly in 1815. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars).
Today you can see some museum and the Lion of Waterloo ! Every year, the 18 of june, there is a reconstitution of the fight.

In Waterloo, the main languages are English and French ! I studied in Brussels and now I live in gent, which is in the dutch part. And it is really funny because I noticed some culture differences.
For example, in wallonia we kiss when we meet each other, here it’s a handshake.

But Belgium as a whole is a really cosy country. Despite the weather, we love party, hanging out with friends, travelling. And I actually believe that Belgian are really open people.

If you decide to come in Belgium, I would recommend you to see Brussels, Gent, Namur and Brugge.

I hope you enjoyed and I hope you'll come here !