Liz Swartzel

I lived in Belgium for a year….it was one of the best things I did in my life. There is so much to see and do and it’s very easy to get to other countries from there since it’s in the center of western europe. I loved the pommes frites, going to the Grande Place, the one day during the year when people were not allowed to drive their cars and every one biked or walked throughout the city, the beautiful forests, the great food, the flower show in August, living next to the EU, going out at night….the list goes on and on…wish I could relive it!

The only drawback to doing this in the states is that NO ONE around randomly speaks it. I used to live in Brussels Belgium and everyone spoke french 24 hours a day, so it was a lot easier to pick it up. But when you don’t have anyone to speak with on a daily basis, it’s a greater challenge.

Since I want to be a life long world traveller, I think that learning languages would be a good additional goal. If I had to pick 5 languages to learn, I would pick: French (doing this right now), Spanish, German, Mandarin or Cantonese, and Italian. It’s a lofty goal, but hey, it’s definitely possible!