My experience in Brussels, Belgium

Hello to everyone! My name is Simona Gaidyte, I am information and communication student from Vilnius University. I finished my internship almost a month ago. I needed my time to sum up everything because those three months were amazing professional and personal experience. I want to thank “Partners4Value” for this opportunity and the hosting organization “Minerva Consulting&Communication” for amazing experience. 

My daily life in Minerva

Minerva team

Minerva was founded at the beginning of 1998 so they have over 13 years of experience in working with organizations such as the ones mentioned above. The actual name of the company comes from an old Roman legend in which Minerva refers to the goddess of wisdom. I was working from 9:30 till 6:30 from Monday to Friday. These working hours were for understanding the dynamics of the company. I began to read the description of work (DOW) of the projects I would be working with. It is a long document which describes the objectives and purpose of the project as well as the Work Projects (abbreviated as WP) of each partner and the responsibilities they would be in charge of. It was important for me to read and truly understand this document because it gave me a better understanding of what the organization wished to achieve and the role of Minerva within that given consortium. I was working with projects CHAARM and MOTIF about HIV and RESFOOD about environment. I was responsible for updating the social media pages and website of the project. Also, I was supporting Minerva in every day activities. The most interesting part of my internship was a new project “Brussels Science Apéro”. Brussels Science Apéro is an initiative launched by MINERVA Consulting and Communication. The aim is to bring science outside of its familiar walls of laboratories and universities by engaging the public in discussions on scientific issues related to our daily life. We started from the idea in the paper and in three months period launch the first event.

Life in Brussels!

Brussels is the city you will definitely fall in love with. Be ready to get confused of two languages – French and Flemish – which are officially used in the city. In Brussels you can reach a lot of places by foot or use the perfectly established public transport. This city always has what to offer: my all weekends were planned in advance and were full of activities and adventures.

Grand Place, one of my favourite place in Brussels

I was travelling a lot in Belgium and visited the most beautiful cities in country – Gent with wonderful atmosphere, Bruges with mystic old town and industrial Antwerp. First time in my life I was travelling by fast speed trains reaching around 300 km/h, first time in my life I was speaking French and eating snails and first time in my life I was living in the house full of people from different cultures.  

The view through my window

Before going to Belgium, I did some research and got more information about the country, its traditions and living style. I found it very useful and helpful for quicker adaptation. I was ready for a lot of rainy days and winter cold. But it didn’t stop me from discovering places in Brussels and around the country. Belgium is famous of its beers – the most amazing thing is that for every different beer they have different glass and technique how to poor it, sweet chocolate and waffles. Let me add frites too!

Manneken Pis with traditional Lithuanian clothes

I can't put all the things in this blogg so if you will have any question feel free to contact me and ask for more information. I would be glad to share my experience!