The key note speeches of VUB alumni turned politicians Alexander De Croo and Sihame El Kaouakibi were both built around a similar statement. Now that our graduates are spreading their wings and leaving the VUB behind, they have to think about the impact they want to make in their life. By lifting themselves up and others. Before focusing on their futures however, we wanted to gauge how they experienced student life at VUB.

 

The enigma that is Brussels



“Friends made at VUB are friends for life”, declare communication scientists Phaedrea Schraepen and Sarah Vis. Out of their mouths it sounds credible, because they wouldn’t do the interview without the other. Possibly because of nervousness, probably because they really are part of each other’s VUB stories. Having left the VUB campus a couple of months already, Phaedra admits that coming back still feels special. “I went to the library last month, and it struck me how much you miss the small things, like the soup in the cafetaria and the staff sitting behind the desk at the library.” Still, it is the bustling student life that turns out to be the highlight of studying at VUB. “There is just so much to in Brussels”, Sarah reminisces. “You can really grow and blossom here. There are so many cultures, so many different walks of life. There are plenty of opportunities to find yourself and showcase your true colours.”

But it is not just Brussels that has left a mark on the student lives of our alumni. “The campus itself is really an entity on its own”, says master in Business Engineering Matteo Gryspeerdt. Matteo came all the way from Antwerp to Brussels and it is the folklore of the student societies at VUB that made him fall in love with the VUB and Brussels city. “For those who don’t live near Brussels, the city is kind of an enigma. You don’t know what to expect. It was the campus that made me feel at ease. Most events take place here and when in class you often run into people you had a fun time with at one of the student cafés or dances. All of this makes the first years a whole lot easier.

“Misery is wasted on the miserable”

If Brussels even manages to uphold an aura of mystery for students who have lived their entire live in Belgium, you can imagine that the stress level for our international students is even higher when arriving here. “It was a whole new experience for me”, confirms management alumna Hiba Mutrif, “but looking back now, I have loved every single second of it.” While she did find that it was hard at  times to find a balance between studying and social life, she has thoroughly enjoyed the excitement that the student associations bring to the campus. “There is always a party somewhere in the neighbourhood.”

When Busra Islek told us that the particularly dark Louie quote “misery is wasted on the miserable” became her mantra when finding her way into student life it took us by surprise, but when she links it to her own experience as a new student, it quickly starts to make sense. “I found it very hard in the beginning to find my rhythm here. But I learned along the way that if you are not a downer and if you know where you are going, the VUB environment will pull and keep you in. This school has really pushed me to do things I didn’t know where in me - I even learned Dutch while living here - and now I can say that I ended up on the other end as a real Belgian citizen. Celebrating diversity, open minded and free from all the boundaries that were set on me before.”



Do you feel the itch to study one of our social sciences or Solvay Business School programmes? Then make sure to visit our website. Are you a VUB alumn? Then make sure to add your profile to the Wall of Faces, so that your role in our VUB history will not be forgotten.