table ofcontents

table ofcontents

10practicaladvises

visa & residence permit 11housing 13airport 14

money 16bank 17

mobile phone (gsm) 18chemists & medical problems 20

doing your grocery shopping in brussels 24sandwiches near ihecs 26

transportation 28

33 departement of internal exchanges

34 welcome committee

34 student association

35 ihecs’s social counsel

36 agenda

38 timetable

39 icampus & cleo

40 how to get to ihecs ?

42 buildings

44 cafeteria

46 course notes

47 library

48 prints, photocopies & photos

50 computers

52 rent out center

54 culture card

54 sports card

55 students card

32 ihecs

56brussels

brussels 57cost of living 58

climate 61security in brussels 62

visits in brussels 64visits in belgium 68

72 activities & leisures

73 cinema

74 bars

76 beer

78 events

81 party

84 parks

88 nice restaurants in brussels

88 shopping

91 travelling outside of belgium

All the prices and information mentioned in this edition are the ones

checked on June 2016.

This document was made by students for students.

08

You are now ready to start a brand new expe-rience in the heart of the European capital, Brussels. Being far away from your customs and habits can sometimes seem destabilizing during the first days or even the first weeks…

This booklet was made to make your life easier and to help you during your entire Erasmus pe-riod at IHECS ! Now it is time for you to build your own « IHECSPERIENCE ».

Welcome to IHECS !

Build your

IHECS PERIENCE

09

Build your

IHECS PERIENCE

practicaladvises

10

11

If your home country is lo-cated outside of Europe, this is mandatory to obtain a student visa prior your departure in Belgium. You can get information from the Belgian Consulate in your home country to know what administrative proce-dures you have to under-take to come and legally study in Belgium.

Visa & residence permitpractical

advises

12

www.laj.be www.brukot.be www.kots.be www.student.be www.appartager.be

Some websites that can be of use when you are looking for accommodation

In general, the price of a student’s flat is around 400-450€. It can be more expen-sive according to the area and the size of the flat. Be aware, it is important not to give a deposit until you have signed a con-tract with the owner! The frauds are rare but they do exist… Get also as much in-formation as you can on the area you are

going to live in. The help of your mentor can be very useful when you are look-ing for a flat; don’t hesitate to ask him or her advice and help! As soon as you have arrived in Belgium and found a flat, you will have to present yourself to the mu-nicipal administration to register as foreign student.

13

HousingIt is important to find a cosy place where to stay in Brussels. To find a student’s flat for the period of your stay, you can start your researches by visiting the Facebook

groups dedicated to this. Usually, they are students who want to rent or sub rent their flat. You have to know that some students rent their flat already furbished, which can be an advantage for you. After your arrival in Brussels, you will receive a list with all the available students’ flats in Brussels form the department of International Exchanges; which could help you. This housing platform is also very usefyl for students: www/ple.brussels/index.php/leprojet/

14

Airport

Leaving, Going to Brussel South Airport (in Charleroi)

To leave (or to go to) the airport of Charleroi, you just have to take the shuttle from Gare du Midi, Gare Centrale or Gare du Nord. The tick-et costs 14 euros for a journey of 60 minutes. The busses run from 4 o’clock in the morning and leave every 30 minutes.

15

Leaving/Going to Brussels

Airport (in Zaventem)

To leave (or to go to) the airport of Zaven-tem, the easiest is to take the train from Gare du Midi, Gare Centrale or Gare du Nord. Brussels Air-port has a train sta-tion at level -1. Trains run from 5.30 am to approximately mid-night and the journey lasts 20 minutes. A ticket costs 8,60€.

01

The currency used in Belgium is the Euro (€). To change money ea-sily, you can go to one of the foreign currency exchange offices loca-ted near to « la Bourse » in Brussels. In Belgium, there is a difference between a debit card and a credit card: it is recommended to always have both with you, some cards aren’t accepted everywhere. Concerning payments, you have to

know that restaurants will accept Visa/MasterCard or bankcards more easily than American Express cards. You also have to know that in some shops, you won’t have the op-portunity to pay with your card. In other cases, you will have to pay a little supplement to be able to use your bankcard.

16

money

02TIP Make sure to always have some cash with you

but try not to have too big amounts in case of theft

! If you lose your Visa or your MasterCard, immedia-

tely call Card Stop to have it blocked (070/344.344).

BankYou can open a bank account in Belgium for the period of your stay. You will receive a bank-card that will be accepted in most of the shops and by cash machines.

Take into account that opening a bank account may take a few days so make sure you have cash with you during your first days in Belgium.

A number of foreign banks have branches in Belgium. Get information in your country be-fore leaving to find out if your bank has a local correspondent in Belgium; it will make the pro-cedures easier!

17

18

If you want to buy a new mobile phone or just choose a different provi-der during your stay in Belgium, the three main Belgian providers are: Proximus, Orange and Base. Each one of them has its own shops and tariff plans.

Mobile phone (GSM)

TIP 0032 is the belgian prefix. If you want to call a belgian friend with a non bel-

gian number, think about dialing 0032.

19

Mobile phone (GSM)

Don’t hesitate to compare their offers and get more information in their shops to find the one that suits you best.

Please think about giving your new number to the department of Internatio-nal Exchanges so they can reach you.

Many Erasmus students use « Mobile Viking »; this offers many advantages to its users.

20

Chemists & medical problemsIn case of a medical emer-gency, the front desk (lo-cated on the ground floor, at the entrance of IHECS) has an emergency pharma-cy. Also, the chemist at the César de Paepe Hospital offers a discount of 10% to IHECS students if you pres-ent your students card. Oth-er chemists are located all over Brussels, and are usual-ly open from 10 am to 6 pm. (www.pharmacie.be)

IHECS also offers medical assistance to students, a free and regular medical service is provided, in partnership with le Centre de Santé de l’UCL, by Doctor Jouret. The doctor Jouret is the medical help offered by the social counsel since 2013.

In case of a serious illness, do go to the nearest hos-pital or call an ambulance if

you are unable to move. You can also call SOS Médecins (www.sosmedecins.be), who will send you a doctor.

In the hospital near IHECS (César de Paepe), there is a doctor available, on ap-pointment only, 4 days a week (Dr De Wit: Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 8.30 am to 12.15 pm and on Thursday from 8.30 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 5 pm.

If you need to see a gen-eral doctor during week-ends, evenings and banks holidays, there is ATHENA which accepts patients (and if needed, can send a doctor to your home). http://gbbw.be/index.php/en/

A few good

addresses

21You must know that the hospital César de Paepe doesn’t have an emer-gency service. The hospital Saint-Pierre offers one, it is located rue Haute, 322 at 1000 Brussels. (02/535.40.55)

A few good

addresses

Dentist near IHECS

Ahariz Mohamed

Rue de la Senne, 93 - 1000 Bruxelles

Tel: 02/ 511.88.98

General Physician near IHECS

Maison médicale du Miroir

Rue du Miroir, 67 1000 Bruxelles

Tel: 02/ 511.34.74

Planned Parenthood near IHECS

Rue de la Roue, 21 - 1000 Bruxelles

Tel: 02/511.29.90

The family planning is open to everyone, you can

find help here if needed.

Hospital near IHECS

Hôpital César de Paepe

Rue des Alexiens, 11 - 1000 Bruxelles

Tel: 02/ 506.71.11

22

a fewemergency

numbers

23

Emergency number in Europe: 112

Police: 101

Poison control center: 070/ 24.52.45

SOS Médecins: 02/ 513.02.02

a fewemergency

numbersRegarding the wat-ches, here are the num-bers you can use to reach medical care in the evening or during the week-end in Brus-sels:

Doctors: 02/479.18.18

Dentists: 02/426.10.26

Chemists: 0900/40.090 or 0900/10.500 (0,50 euros/ minute)

24

There are several places where you will be able to do your grocery shop-ping during the week. Be aware that in Belgium, the shops are closed on Sunday (except for the City Delhaize and Carrefour Express) and gene-rally close at 7.30pm during the week. Don’t forget to take shopping bags with you because plastic bags aren’t free.

Lidl and Aldi is the grocery store where you will find the cheapest products. In the other shops, the prices are almost identical except for

the GB Express or Carrefour Express and also in the City Delhaize : these little shops have more ex-pensive products.

Doing your grocery shopping in Brussels

25

Located opposite the Bourse, this supermarket offers a large choice of foods for all the bud-gets and all the tastes.

Delhaize Anspach

Lidl

Located rue au Beurre, near to the Grand Place, the Delhaize Express is very handy when you are missing something during the evening or on a Sunday. Be aware that the prices are higher than in another supermarket.

Delhaize express

Located opposite Place Saint Géry, Lidl is a dis-count store that offers brands at a low price. The food choice isn’t as large as at the Del-haize.

26

The cafeteria at IHECS sells all the usual sand-wiches at reasonable prices : between 2 and 4 euros. Other good addresses, near IHECS are:

Sandwiches near IHECS

Tony Located a bit further in the Rue de l’Etuve, this snack bar has a large choice of sandwiches with all the usual dressings.

Price: between 2 and 5 euros.

Cricotte Located in the rue du Midi near to Tony, Cricotte offers a big choice of salads to dress your sandwiches. The price is a bit higher because of all the different possible choices.

Price: between 2,5 and 6 euros.

Le Temps des TartinesAlso located in the rue du Midi, in the direction of the Bourse, this ba-kery makes sandwiches with ciabatta breads that are originally dressed.

Price: between 3 and 5 euros.

27

0128

Transportation In Belgium there are different companies of pu-blic transportation. Be careful, if you are chec-ked and that you don’t have a ticket or if you have forgotten to validate it, you will have to pay a fine. So, always buy a ticket and validate it.

29

It’s the railway network in Belgium. The three biggest stations in Brussels and that serve the whole of Belgium are the Gare du Midi, the Gare Centrale and the Gare du Nord.

It is possible to buy one way or round-trip tickets. If you are under 26 and that you are going to tra-vel a lot in Belgium, the easiest solution is to buy a « Go-pass », it’s a ticket that allows you to do 10 trips all over in Belgium for 51 euros. This ticket is valid for a year and isn’t nominative.

Here is the website where you can find the train schedules: www.belgianrail.be.

You can also get to Paris, Amsterdam and Cologne by Thalys, and London by Euros-tar, departing from the Gare du Midi. More information on: www.thalys.com and www.eurostar.com. A cheap version of Tha-lys has been created: IZY (www.izy.com).

SNCB

30

TEC

De LijnIt’s the public transportation network in Flandres.

www.delijn.be

It’s the public transportation network in Wallonie.

www.infotec.be

31

If you buy a season ticket, you will receive a MOBIB card (this is an electronic card) that you can buy to use all the public transportations of the STIB. Once you have it, you won’t have to pay anything else to travel. You will just have to validate your card in front of the electronic terminals. These terminals are lo-cated in busses, the undergrounds and the trams. 10 journeys cards are

also put on the MOBIB card. To pur-chase your MOBIB (5€), go in one of these centres: the metro station Porte de Namur, the office at De Brouckère, the Metro station Rogi-er, the Metro station gare du Midi, the Metro station Roodebeek, the Metro station Gare de l’Ouest. You can also buy it online (www.stib-mi-vb.bele-commerce.html?l=en). Be-fore buying a season ticket, do not hesitate to ask a school certificate at IHECS that you can give to one of these centers.

STIB

The MOBIB card

It’s the transportation net-work in Brussels.

If you have to travel every day with the public trans-portations, you can get a student season ticket (un-der 25). If you don’t need to travel every day with public transportations, you can also buy « 10 Journeys » tickets that will cost you 14 euros. Both options allow you to use all the means of

transport in Brussels: metro, tram and bus. Be aware that they are not available on TEC or De Lijn transporta-tions.

www.stib.be

TIP Download the STIB application for mobile which is really

useful to check the real time and theoritical timetables.

14

IHECS32

33

IHECS The department of In-ternational Exchanges, located on the top floor of the building Bord de Verre, helps you with all the procedures linked to your Erasmus.

Sophie Henrard and her

colleague Stéphanie Poelleman, in charge of the incoming students, are there Monday to Fri-day; they will give you their schedule when you visit their office.

Departementof InternationalExchanges

ContactTel: +32 2 549 55 37 sophie.henrard@galilee.be stephanie.poelleman@galilee.be

34

Welcome committee

Student association

The IHECS student club, better known as « Ceics », regularly or-ganises events for the students: parties at the Fuse Nightclub, Prom, Nuit des Médias, etc. You have to pay to attend some ac-

tivities but not for all of them. To buy your tickets for the paying events, go to the cafeteria (in the non-smoking area) during lunch time : the students of the club will be there to sell the tickets during a few days before the party.

More info on Facebook: CEICS

The CIAE, Comité In-ternational d’Accueil des Erasmus, was cre-ated for every Erasmus student to be guided by a mentor during their experience at IHECS.

At your arrival, the members of the com-mittee will welcome you and will propose

you cultural or festive activities and more. To celebrate the new academic year, CIAE organises an informa-tion meeting and a wel-come drink/lunch, in collaboration with the International Exchang-es Department.

35

IHECS’s social coun-sel’s aim is to help the students who, for whatever reason, have difficulties during their studies. Which are the aids proposed by the counsel?

A personalized help: a team at your disposal to listen to you and help you out if you face per-sonal difficulties with your family, at school, in your daily life, etc. A medical and/or psy-chological help: in part-

nership with the Health centre of the UCL, a regular free medical permanence is organ-ized in the respect of the confidentiality and medical secret by doc-tor Jouret. Check out the schedule to find out when the doctor is at IHECS

Contact: dominique.jouret@uclouvain.be.

IHECS’s social counsel

14

SeptemberMid September: beginning of the academic year

27th of September: holiday -

fête de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles

November1st of November: holiday – All Saints Day

11th of November: holiday – Armistice

DecemberBeginning of December: end of Semester exams for the students in the International Programme (courses in English)

Last week : Christmas Holidays – blocus

JanuaryFirst week: Christmas Holidays – blocus

Second and third week: exams (for the French Speaking programme)

Last week: holiday36

Agenda

FebruaryFirst week: classes start again

AprilEaster holidays: two weeks during the month of

April

Easter Monday: holiday

May1st of May: holiday – Labour day

Week before last and last week: blocus

JuneFirst three weeks : exams

The “blocus” is a period dedicated to the prepara-tion of the exams.

The precise dates will be published on www.ho-raires.ihecs.be

The Easter Holidays sometimes start during the last week of March.

37

38

To have access to your timetable, visit the website www.horaires.IHECS.be.

You will then be able to do a search according to different criteria such as the name of the pro-fessor or the year you are in.

The schedule is a table with columns and lines; each line represents a class period and each column a day of the week.

Timetable

Here are the different periods of time:

First period: from 8.30 am to 10.30 am

Second period: from 10.45 am to 12.45 pm

Lunchtime: from 12.45 pm to 1.45 pm

Third period: from 1.45 pm to 1.45 pm

Fourth period: from 4.00 pm to 6.00 pm

Fifth period: from 6.45 pm to 8.15 pm

Two internet platforms are dedicated to IHECS students: Icampus and Cleo.

To have access to it, an identification num-ber and a password are necessary; they will be given to you by the department of Interna-tional Exchanges. The two platforms give very specific information.

Icampus & Cleo

39

Cleo

On the welcome page of Icampus you will find in-formation about absent teachers and classes that are rescheduled. In the tab « Secretariat » you will find the schedule of the classes and the exams.

www.icampus.IHECS.be/icampus

Icampus

On Cleo, you have to register to the classes you are attending ; you just have to click on « s’inscrire à un cours », choose the year the class is given to and then click on the cho-sen class. Sometimes, a password is needed, if so, it will be given to you by your teacher.

Another way to have access to the classes you attend is clicking

on « tous les cours de la plateforme » and then type in the name of the class in the search bar. It is also on this plat-form that the material is posted by the teachers: powerpoints, course notes, what you need to know for the exam, videos, etc.

www.cleo.IHECS.be

14

how toget toIHECS ?

40

41

how toget toIHECS ?

by metro Take the metro to « Gare Centrale » or to « De Brouckère ».

by tram Take the « pre-metro » to « Anneessens » or to « Bourse ».

by bus The busses 38, 48, 95 and 96 have stops near IHECS.

To go to IHECS, many public transporta-tions can be used.

MANNEKEN PIS

RUE DU LOMBARD

RUE

DU

MID

I

BVD

MA

URI

CE L

EMO

NN

IER

BVD

AN

SPA

CH

BOURSE

ANNEESSENS

BV

D D

E L

'EM

PE

RE

UR

BOURSEGRAND-PLACE

VERS

GA

RE D

U M

IDI

VERS

GA

RE D

U N

PRD

RUE

DU

QU

ESN

OY

PLACE DE LA VIEILLEHALLE AU BLÉS

PLACESAINT-JEAN

RUE

DE

L'É

TUVE

RUE DES ALEXIENS

E

BV

SJGC

RUE DE L’HÔPITAL

E > BÂTIMENT ÉTUVERue de l’Étuve, 58-601000 Bruxelles

BV > BÂTIMENT BORD-DE-VERRERue du Poinçon, 151000 Bruxelles

GC > BÂTIMENT GRANDS CARMESRue des Grands Carmes, 271000 Bruxelles

SJ > AUDITOIRES SAINT-JEANRue de l’Hôpital, 312e étage1000 BRUXELLES

Rue de l’Étuve 58-60B-1000 BruxellesBELGIQUETél : +32 (0) 2 512 90 93Fax : +32 (0) 2 512 92 94www.ihecs.beMail : ihecs@galilee.be

BRUSSELS SCHOOL

Journalism & Communication

VERS

GAR

E CE

NTR

ALE

VERS GARE CENTRALE

42

BuildingsIHECS has several buildings.

43

Étuve (E) It’s the main building where the cafeteria, the studios, the front desk and the secretariat are located.

Rue de l’Étuve, 58-60 à 1000 Bruxelles

Bord de verre (BV) This building is located opposite to the building Etuve. Here you will find three auditoriums and the office of International Exchanges on the top floor.

Rue du Poinçon, 15 à 1000 Bruxelles

Grands Carmes (GC) This building is located in the street diagonally to the rue de l’Etuve, opposite to the Manneken Pis. The classes take place on the first and on the third floor.

Rue des Grands Carmes, 27 à 1000 Bruxelles

Saint-Jean (SJ) This building is located rue de l’Hôpital, near to Place Saint-Jean. The classrooms are located on the second floor. The code to enter this building is « S1234+bell ».

Rue de l’Hôpital, 31 à 1000 Bruxelles

14

CAFeTeRIA

44

45

CAFeTeRIA

CafeteriaIHECS has a cafeteria where students can sit and have a chat (even if they don’t wish to have a drink). It’s open from Monday to Friday from 8 am to 6 pm.

Here you can get sand-wiches, croissants, soups, pasta and drinks; the cafeteria is equip-ped with a big screen that gives students different kinds of infor-mation: absences and

lessons that are moved, medical appointments, information from the students counsel, etc. You can only pay in cash there. Just next door you will find a second cafeteria with a micro-wave where smoking is allowed.

46

To get the paper version of your course notes, you have to go to the « service cours », located at the end of the corridor on the first floor of the main building (rue de l’Étuve, 58-60).

It is open from Monday to Thursday from 6pm to 6.30pm. Be aware that you have to have cash on you to pay.

An electronic version of your notes will also be available on Cleo.

More info on Facebook: Service cours IHECS.

Course notes

47

IHECS has a small library located on the sixth floor of the main building (rue de l’Étuve 58-60), where you can consult many books.

The library is not very suitable to study. If they want to go to a quiet place to work individually, they can go to the Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, loca-ted at the Mont des Arts. This library is open from Monday to Friday from 9am to 7pm and on Satur-day from 9am to 5pm. The inscription to the library requires your student’s card and your identity card.

PRICE LIST

Daily card: 2,5 €

Weekly card: 5 €

Annual student’s card: 15 €

www.kbr.be

library

48

Prints, photocopies & photos

For the prints and photocopies in black and white (0,06 euros/page), you just have to go to the com-puter room located on the fourth floor of the main building (rue de l’Étuve 58-60), and connect your-self with your login and your password. The prints will come out of the printing machine just next to the room.

It is also possible to print in colour and on paper of a better quality in the “local de graphisme”, loca-ted in the same building on the third floor. You can also do your prints on A3 paper.

Printing and photocopying documents can be done at IHECS. Every student has an open account. All you need to do is put money on it (through the front desk on the ground floor).

49

PRICE LIST

1 side A4: 0,50 €

1 side A4 recto-verso: 1 €

1 side A3: 0,50 €

1 side A3 recto-verso: 1 €

PRICE LIST

Proofing: 0,08€

9x13: 0,12€

10x15: 0,15€

15x15: 0,30€

13x19: 0,25€

15x20: 0,30€

A4: 0,80€

It is also possible to print out pictures at IHECS.

You first have to go to the rent out centre (first floor of the main buil-ding) to buy a « photo card ». To credit it, you have to go to the pho-tography room located on the third floor of the main building (rue de l’Etuve 58-60), give

the money you want to put on it to the tea-chers and ask to credit your card. It is possible to print in all the usual formats but also in very large formats.

1450

computers

51

The login and the password that you will receive at your arrival at IHECS will give you access to any compu-ter in the school. About 65 computers are freely accessible in rooms 414 and 417 (fourth floor).

To connect to the Wifi (Etuve and Bord de Verre building), the code is: ihecswpakey12.

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rent out center

52

Video and photo came-ras, lenses… can all be rented at IHECS. Indeed, a rent out centre provides all the equipment needed to the student on the first floor of the main build-ing (rue de l’Étuve 58-60), in the corridor left the staircase.

Of course, you have to book the equipment in advance and it is essen-tial to give it back on time, if not, you will be penalized.

The equipment can be booked via Icam-pus : after registering with your usual iden-tification number and password, you will find the link “Prêt Matéri-el” in the left column, on the welcome page.

On this page, you will have access to three different links (video, sound and photo) that will allow you to consult the planning and make sure that the equip-ment you want to book is available. The three other links located at the bottom of the page will direct you to the booking forms. When you fill them in, make sure to indicate your email address and the dates at which you want to pick up and bring back the equipment. Afterwards, you will re-ceive an email indicat-ing if you can have the equipment or not.

1553

Even if it is preferable that you make the reser-vations online, you can also go to the “centre de prêt” to book; you will just have to give them the following details: your name, the date and time at which you want to book the equipment.

Renting equipment is free but everybody is res-ponsible for the borrowed material. In case of loss or damage, you will have to pay back a part of the amount.

54

culture cardThe card costs €10 and gives access to many cultural activities for a reduced price or for free. On the main page of Icampus, in the left column, you will find a list with all the activities that are proposed. To have access to it, you have to go to the sec-retariat located on the first floor of the main building (rue de l’Étuve 58-60) and also fill in the form that you will find on Icampus.

www.carteculture.be

The sports card gives access to two sports centres of the Universi-té Catholique de Lou-vain, the sports centre of Louvain-la-Neuve (le Blocry) and the sports centre of Lou-vain-en-Woluwe (Mou-nier).

This card costs 50€, on top of which you have to add 20€ of adminis-tration fees; these are covered by the Haute Ecole Galilée. After

downloading and filling in the form on Icampus (in the left column on the main page), you just have to pay 50€ on the bank account of the Haute Ecole Galilée.

The list of all the activi-

ties can be found at www.

uclouvain.be/sport.

sports card

55

students card

The students card proves that you are a student. Stéphanie Poelleman, collabora-tor of the International Exchange department, will give it to you once it is ready.

It is interesting to al-ways have it on you be-cause simply showing it gives you access to re-ductions for many activ-ities: cinema, museums, exhibitions, cultural visits, theatre, or even in bars like the Ebrius, a bar located on Place Rouppe where beer only costs 1,5€.

The IHECS students card also allows you to have reductions in some bars located near IHECS:

At « Mezzo »: located at Saint Géry, beer only costs 1 euro for IHECS students.

At « Da Piero »: also located at Saint Géry, all the dishes are half price.

50

brussels

56

57

brusselsAt the same time capital of Europe and of Belgium, Brussels is located at the heart of the European Un-ion and in the middle of the country. Some of its inhab-itants speak French whilst others speak Dutch. Indeed, Brussels is officially bilingual but it is very common to hear English here too. Brus-sels is a relatively green Eu-ropean capital and it is also one of the most cosmopoli-tan cities in the world.

brussels

58

Besides restaurants that in general cost a little more, the cost of living in Brussels is more or less comparable to the other European capi-tals. A monthly budget of more or less €800 is

a good average. The costs linked to housing are the most important ones: reckon between 400 and 450 euros per month.

Cost of living

Soda can: 1 €

Glass of beer: 1,80 - 2 €

Loaf of bread of 800 grams: 1,90 €

Sandwich: 2,50 - 4,50 €

French fries: from 2 €

Fast food: 3,00 - 6,50 €

Restaurant (single dish): from 10 €

Cinema ticket: from 8 €

Daily newspaper: 1,20 €

Metro, bus or tram ticket: 2,50 €

As guidance, here are the approximate prices of some products

59

As guidance, here are the approximate prices of some products

5060

61

The climate in Belgium is variable from a month to another, from a season to another and from a year to another. Generally, the sunny days start in April and end in September. The coldest month of the year is January; the coldest temperatures go from -5° to + 1°.

climate

62

Security in Brussels

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Brussels isn’t a dangerous city. However, there are a lot of pickpockets. Always close you bag and keep your be-longings near your when you use public transportation or when you go out in town.

It isn’t cautious to walk around on your own in side streets when it’s dark out-side. Stay on the main streets that are more lively like at

the Place De Brouckère, the Bourse..

In the evening, don’t go wandering near the Rue Neuve, the Gare du Nord or the Gare du Midi. These two train stations aren’t plac-es when you will feel safe at night.

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The city center Walk around the centre of Brussels, between the Grand Place (« the most beautiful square in the world »), the Saint Michel and Sainte Gudule Cathe-drals, the Bourse, the Mont des Arts, the Manneken Pis and the Place de Brouckère. The centre is full of little side streets that are reminders of the different periods that Brussels went trough.

the Atomium Located near to the metro station « Heysel », it was created in 1958 for the universal exposition of the same year and it represents the nine atoms of ion crystal. It is possible to go to the top of the Atomium thanks to a lift/an eleva-tor. If you show your students card the entrance fee will be of 8 euros.

The Cinquantenaire Inaugurated in 1905, the arcades of the Cinquentenaire where built to cel-ebrate Belgium’s 50th anniversary. It is possible to go to the top for free to enjoy the view onto the park and the city of Brussels.

On a cultural point of view, Brussels is relati-vely rich.

Here are some places you must visit:

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Visits in Brussels

museumsmuseumsmuseumsmuseums

museumsmuseumsmuseumsmuseums

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The museum of music instruments Not only does this museum surprise with its Art Nouveau architecture (cre-ated by Victor Horta, famous Belgian architect of the beginning of the 20th century), but it is also nicely arranged and proposes a 2,5 hours visit among music instruments. You can have an audio guide to accompany your visit. This museum is located between the Place Royale and the Mont des Arts.

The entrance fee is 2€ if you are under 25.

The Magritte museum If you like paintings from the 20th century, Magritte is a famous Belgian surre-alist painter and a museum is dedicated to him inside the museum des Beaux Arts on the Place Royale. You will be able to enter the universe of the painter and follow his evolution.

If you are under 25, the entrance fee is 2€.

The cartoon museumBelgium is the country of cartoon; you will notice it while walking along the streets where you will see different frescos coming from the cartoon world. This museum is entirely dedicated to it. It is located in the rue des Sables, in the centre of Brussels.

The entrance fee is of 7€.

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Belgium isn’t a big country but there are a lot of things to see outside of Brussels. Here is a list of nice Flemish and Walloon cities to discover.

Visits in Belgium

Bruges This beautiful little Flemish town is sometimes called the Venice of the North because it has many canals. The town kept its Medieval style, it’s beguinage, it’s old churches and it’s old monuments of the period of the great Flemish painters like Jan Van Eyck.

Antwerp This town is mostly known for shopping. Nevertheless, the second biggest town in Belgium is also worth the detour for its monuments, its museums (Plantin-Moretus, Rubens, diamant) and to walk along the river Escaut.

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Durbuy The smallest town in the world is located in the Ardennes. It’s a flowery town and you can go and walk around in the nearby forests in the heart of the Ardennes.

Be aware that you can’t get to Durbuy by train.

Gent Gent is at the same time a historic and contempo-rary town. The small pedestrian streets are ideal to wonder around. This beautiful town still has an amazing architectural patrimony.

Namur Capital of the Walloon region, Namur is located 60km away from Brussels. The heart and the his-tory of this town can be discovered by foot thanks to many different walks.

It is always nice and enjoyable to drink a coffee on a terrace or even to do a bit of shopping in the streets Saint Jacques and Emile Cuvelier.

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Tournai This historical town has a big cultural heritage, the Beffroi of Tournai, the huge cathédrale Notre-Dame of Tournai or the museums of Beaux-Arts of Tournai are part of it. It is nice to waIk around the paved streets and to stop at a terrace when you want to take a break.

Mons Future European Capital of culture, this town has an impressive heritage. Mons and it’s Grand Place are well known for folkloric manifestations that take place every year most of the time in June: the famous « Doudou ».

LiègeThis town has animation during the day and at night. There are many different itineraries to disco-ver the town, by foot, by bicycle or even by boat. A touristic train and guided visits are also other ways to discover this Walloon city.

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activities & leisures

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activities & leisures

In Brussels, films are usually shown in the original language with subtitles in French and/or in Dutch. Be aware that this isn’t always the case in Wallonia! You will be able to en-joy the latest movies at « cinema UGC De Brouckere », at « cine-ma UGC Toison d’Or » or at the « cinema des Galeries ».

For more information concerning the cine-mas and the films that are playing, go and visit www.cinebel.be, www.ugc.be or www.kinepo-lis.be.

Cinema

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bars

Here is a list of some bars appreciated by the students and the youth in Brussels.

around the Grand Place The Hard Rock Café

The Delirium

The Floris

The Homo Erectus

The Maison de l’Arc en

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At the « cimetière d’Ixelles »The students of the « Université Libre de Bruxelles » (ULB), whose campus is located near the Ixelles cemetery, often go and relax in these café’s.

The Tavernier

The Waff

The Corto

The Gauguin

At the « Halles Saint Géry »The « place Saint Géry » is a very pleasant place to go and have a drink in a cool bar. These three bars are located behind « La Bourse »:

Le Roy des Belges

Zebra bar

Mappa Mundo

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Bier Tempel Located in the centre of Brussels, this very wel-coming bar offers you interesting prices on all its beers. Don’t hesitate, go to 56 of the « rue Marché aux Herbes »!

Beer Mania Located on the chaussée de Wavre, this bar offers you 200 different beers. It’s a place you can’t skip if you want to taste local beers.

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BeerYou can’t come to Bel-gium and not taste the different beers brewed here! Here are several places where you will be able to taste them.

here is a list of breweries you shouln’t miss L’Atelier, Bier Circus, Poechenellekeker, La Porte Noire, Moeder Lambic, Le Delirium Cafe, La Brasserie Can-tillon.

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Christmas marketWith the end of year festivities approaching, during the month of December, the Grand Place of Brussels is decorated with a big Christmas tree and a magnificent crèche. It is worth going, you won’t be disappointed. At the same period, the place Sainte-Catherine is transformed in a huge Christmas market filled with little stalls coming from all over Europe. Don’t hesitate, taste the local specialities and dance on the ice rink!

Belgian Beer Weekend In September, the Grand Place of Brus-sels becomes the place to be for beer lovers! Since 1999, a lot of bre-wers come and present the best beers in the world.

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events

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partyBrussels isn’t the city that has the most nightclubs but some nightclubs are a must and have an excellent reputation. If you want to dance the night away, here’s a list of the most popular ones in Brussels.

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the fuseThis club had a good reputation in Europe during the 90’s. Today, the FUSE lets inde-pendent organisation put up their events. Most of the time, IHECS and other universities

and colleges of Brus-sels organise their own parties here.

Rue Blaes, 208 à 1000 Bruxelles

the woodLocated in the middle of the Bois de la Cambre, the wood has two other trendy establishments: the Jeux d’Hiver and the Patinoire.

Chemin de la Meute, 1 à 1000 Bruxelles

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Of course you aren’t obliged to go to a nightclub to have fun! There are many other places to chill, go out and meet people, like for instance the Place du Luxembourg. In-deed, many foreigners

go there during the eve-ning. It’s the ideal place to meet people who share the same culture as you, of your country or simply to meet other Erasmus students.

le mirano continentalThis nightclub is very popular among the students. You may enjoy the parties « @Seven afterwork » that take place on Thursday evening, many people from different nationali-ties go here.

Chaussée de Louvain, 38 à 1210 Bruxelles

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Brussels offers many parks to go for a walk, to rest or just to spend an afternoon.

PARkS

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Parc de BruxellesThis parc is situated across from the Royal Palace

Les Étangs d’Ixelles Located in the heart of Ixelles, next to place Flagey, the « Etangs d’Ixelles » is the perfect place to go jogging or simply relax by the water.

Jardin d’EgmontThis beautiful small garden is located behind Le Petit Sablon.

Parc DudenThis big park is located between Forest and St-Gilles, and has a magnificent view of the city.

There’s also: Parc Cinquentenaire, Bois de la Cambre, Parc Léopold.

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Be careful, it’s impor-tant to know that not all restaurants accepts credit cards, it’s better to always have a little cash on you.

In Belgium, it’s not ne-cessary to tip waiters, but if you are satisfied by the service, you can just round up the bill by a couple of cents or one or two euros.

Nice restaurants in Brussels

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Houtsiplou Located on the place Rouppe, this restaurant is famous for it’s huge hamburgers and fries served in a pot of flowers. The menu also offers different types of salads and dishes.

Cheesecake Café Located on the place De Brouckère, the Chee-secake Cafe offers a large menu with reasonable prices. A large numbers of cocktails, with or wit-hout alcohol are also on the menu.

Da Piero This Italian restaurant is located in St-Géry, it of-fers a large choice of pasta and pizza at a reduced price for students of IHECS.

You can find other restaurants on this website: www.

resto.be.

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shoppingIn Belgium, shops are generally open from Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm. On Sunday, all the shops are closed.

If you want to go shop-ping on a Sunday, go to the coast, to Knokke. The sales take place

twice a year: in January and during the summer in July.

To go shopping go to Rue Neuve, Avenue Louise, Boulevard de Waterloo or to Rue Dansaert

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Rue NeuveThis is a pedestrian street and link place De Brouckère to place Ro-gier with only afforda-ble clothes shops: Zara, H&M, Springfield, New Look, etc.

The street ends with City2, a big shopping centre where you will find amongst others the big store FNAC.

These three shopping streets have more expen-sive shops than the ones in the Rue Neuve. The Boulevard de Waterloo has shops such as Aber-crombie and fashion designers shops.

Avenue Louise, boulevard de waterloo & Rue Dansaert

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traveltraveltraveltravel

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Travelling outside of BelgiumIf you want to travel outside Belgium, you can take the Thalys, the TGV, the Euros-tar, the Eurocity or even the plane. These different means of transportation will allow you to easily go to some countries and at a low price.

traveltraveltraveltravel

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Often visited for its capital Paris, France is a much bigger country than Belgium where there are many coun-tries you can visit and discover.

In the Alpes and in the Vosges it is possi-ble to go skiing during the winter and to take some beautiful walks in the mountains during the summer, the cities in the south of France see many tourists come

and go during the good season to enjoy the weather and the beach-es.

Other regions such as Alsace and Lorraine, located in the north of the country are lovely to go and wonder about in the nice little streets.

Advised means of transportationThalys to Paris : 1h20.TGV to the cities in the south such as Lyon, Mar-seille, Bordeaux, etc. Eurocity to Alsace or Lorraine.Plane.

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France

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THE NETHERLANDSAmsterdam, capital of the country, is a relatively well know city and has a good reputation. Visiting this city by bicycle is very fun and highly recom-mended! This city has many nice little cafes and some interesting museums such as the Van Gogh museum.

Other cities are also recommended: Utrecht, Rot-terdam, Maastricht and The Hague.

ADVISED MEAN OF TRANSPORTATIONThalys to Amsterdam: 2h40.

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Switzerland

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Thanks to the Alps it is possible to go skiing in the winter and do alpi-nism and walks during the summer.

Switzerland is also known for its lakes where people who like nautical sports can go windsurfing or water skiing.

Take note that this country isn’t part of the Euro Zone; which means you will have to pay in Swiss francs and

not in euros ! The cost of living is rather high.

Some advised cities: Zurich, Genève, Berne, Lausanne

advised mean of transportationEurocity to Zurich.

Switzerland

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London, capital known worldwide, is a rather ex-pensive city.

It offers many museums to explore like the famous Madame Tussauds museum or Tower Hill and is of-ten visited for shopping. The currency used in this country is the Pound and not the Euro.

Other well known cities and that are worth the de-tour are: Cambridge, Oxford, Brighton, Cardiff, Liv-erpool, Manchester, Canterburry.

advised mean of transportationEurostar to London: 2h.

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england

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If you want to discover other countries in Europe, there are different interesting formulas such as InterRail or Eurodomino that allows you to travel from 3 to 8 days in the European countries of your choice.

The practical aspect of these different formulas are detailed on the website www.b-rail.be. You can also get information from the airline company Ryanair (www.ryanair.be) that often offers low cost flights to some countries.

INTERNATIONALEXCHANGES

Journalism & Communication

IHECS Haute Ecole GaliléeInternational Exchanges

58-60, Rue de l’Etuve1000 BrusselsBELGIUM

Tel : 0032 2 549 55 37

www.ihecs.be

This guide was made by students for students. All prices were checked in June 2016.