Memories of Belgium

Our beautiful apartment

I spent most of my 2017 in Belgium, specifically a university town named Louvain-la-Neuve in Wallonia, the French region of Belgium. We had a 2-floor 2-room apartment all for ourselves, for just 750 Euro with water bill included. Until this date, that is the best apartment I have lived. Thanks to UCLouvain for the accommodation. Initially, I was worried that living in Belgium with the same amount of money I received in Portugal would be challenging. But it turned out quite ok. We, of course, were a bit more careful with money while in Louvain-la-Neuve. We witnessed snowfall in Louvain-la-Nueve in early March. Feeding the ducks and geese across the lake was also quite fun.

Thanks to the central location of Belgium and its competitive coverage by different airlines, flights from Brussels were quite cheap, throughout Europe. During the long weekends, we flew to different cities and countries. This made 2017 to be the year with most countries visited ever for me, so far. We left very early in the morning to catch the train to the nearby countries (Luxembourg and the Netherlands) or to the Brussels airport (Romania and Hungary). A long walk with a suitcase to enjoy yet another country or a city (Ghent, Bruges, and Ostende). I also attended my one and only Erasmus Mundus Association General Assembly (EMA GA), while I have been an EMA program representative for EMDC and EMJD-DC a few times.

View from our apartment

My apartment was quite far from the lab. Nearly a 30 minutes walk. But it was fun. Also, the roads were entirely for pedestrians as the vehicles always go underground. We had a shopping mall called L'Esplanade with a Delhaize supermarket. We always visited there to buy our groceries. Vegetables and fruits were very expensive there. But it was convenient. Once we went to ALDI but figured that it is quite too far for walking. We still loved walking around the lake in the summer. It was pleasant. Belgium chocolates, Belgium beers, and Belgium desserts - all were the best! We often bought fresh sashimi and sushi from the Delhaize.

My new suitcase in my lab

When we left Belgium to return to Portugal in 2017 August, I did not realize that I would return soon. But I had to, as my funding for the last 4 months of 2017 was from Belgium. I had back-and-forth 2 return trips from Belgium to Portugal. Eventually, I moved to Saudi Arabia for 2 months from Belgium. The Saudi visa did not take much time. During these days of back-and-forth travels between Portuguese airports (Lisboa and Faro) and Belgium airports (BRU and CRL), I stayed overnights in the 2 airports of Belgium, in my lab, in friends' homes, and also slept on a cat bed for 2 nights in an Airbnb-gone-wrong! Then I came back to Belgium and returned to Portugal in 4 days in December.

I also had 2 remarkable return trips to Belgium from Atlanta in 2019. First, was to fly to Portugal via Belgium, for my first defense in Portugal. I stayed in Leuven first, to meet my supervisor in Louvain-la-Neuve. Then, stayed in Antwerp before returning to Atlanta. I loved my stay in Antwerp. It was very pleasant. Then, I came back from Atlanta to defend my thesis once more (for the second and the last time!) at UCLouvain. This time, I stayed in Charleroi and Leuven. On the 23rd of August, after 7 years since my arrival to Lisboa, I completed my Ph.D. with my final Ph.D. defense. It was a remarkable journey of 7 years. Thanks Portugal and EU.

While I did not spend as much as time in Belgium, compared to I did in Portugal, Belgium still left me with very positive memories. I leave with positive memories of EU. I loved every bit of my stay in Europe. And goodbye, Belgium too.

A few things that made my 2017 interesting..

Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India

2017 is my best year so far, followed by 2015 and 2013. In this post, I list 30 things that made my 2017 interesting.

1. A day in Thiruvannamalai, India!
The best of 2017.

2. A fast-paced year full of déjà vu.
Too many things happened in too little time.

3. Winning a projector from Teradata in a Twitter contest at VLDB 2017

I love this Mini Android Smart Portable Projector.

4. A midnight walk in Timișoara with just a paper map
Finally, a huge fan of Romanian music visits Romania!

5. My first book published.
It was nice to publish my first book, and receive its hard-copies.

6. My first book chapter, ready for publication.
My book chapter was accepted for publication before my first book, but my book was released first.

7. Reviewing books and papers.
Received a few printed books as a result.

8. ACRO2017 in Karlstad, Sweden.
My first (and probably, only) summer school. And making friends!

Spring flowers of Keukenhof

9. Beautiful Oslo
This city is as beautiful as Stockholm.

10. Sunny Szeged
It is a pity I did not collect some Hungarian Forint (1 USD = 262.611 HUF) back home to give them to scammers.


11. Valencia - once more Spain!
I visited Spain and Sweden in 2013, 2015, and 2017. Following this pattern, I predict that I will revisit them both in 2019. ;)

12. Memories of Louvain-la-Neuve 

When I arrived in Louvain-la-Neuve in February, I did not realize that my entire year is going to be in this Belgian village!

13. Walk across the castles in Luxembourg

I love these small EU countries.

14. Spring flowers of Keukenhof

We were right in the season. Perfect timing.

15. A day-trip in Dubai

Short. But surprisingly nice.

16. Two months in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
As a visiting student / Government Visitor to KAUST.

17. Sleepless nights in Colombo
Deadline-oriented motivation. This year is full of that.

18. Turning 30
I think that is a big achievement to reach my 30s.

19. A day in the streets of Prague
A day full of random metro rides and walks.

20. New Year's Eve in Zurich!
Enjoying the view of the moving flights from the ZRH Airport Observation room on the 1st of January!

21. Attending VLDB in Busy Munich
Loved attending a top conference for the first time. Berlin is still my favorite city.

22. Colorful Bruges, Belgium.

Summer in Bruges

It is so colorful in the summer.

23. Experiencing Chennai, India
After watching several Tamil movies from India, it is nice to be in Tamil Nadu for the first time.

24. Dissecting various scams in Portugal, Sri Lanka, and Belgium.
Fell victim to a few. Dodged a few. A scammer may come in various shapes, jobs, and genders. But usually, he is a taxi driver.

25. A sunny day in Fonte da Talha
Spending a whole evening in this Portuguese beach once more before the summer runs out!


26. Staying in a hotel room in Faro just to connect to the Internet before a flight
Luckily the Internet was reliable enough in my room to connect to an important meeting that I was part of.

27. Working on Óbidos and Évora
This time I am talking about my research papers. Not the Portuguese cities.

28. Attending EMA GA in Brussels.
Been the PR several times for both EMDC and EMJD-DC. But first time in the GA representing both.
  
29. Half-decade of Memories
It has been 5 years in Lisboa and with IST/INESC-ID!

30. Two Christmas Parties!
Joined the parties in UCLouvain/Belgium and INESC-ID Lisboa.


Every year, I have one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous year. :) The bar is very high for 2018. I wish you a happy new year everyone. Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may also read the blog posts of the previous years as well.

EMA GA 2017 at Brussels

May 26th - 27th: I have been a program representative (PR) of Erasmus Mundus Association (EMA) a few years for EMDC and EMJD-DC. However, unfortunately in the past, I missed the general assembly (GA) due to conflicts in schedules. I was the representative of EMDC master program in 2013. However, I could not attend the GA as I had the semester exams during the same days. In 2016, I was again the PR for EMJD-DC. I missed the opportunity to be present at the GA in Lugano, as I was waiting for my residence permit interview. 

This time in 2017, I made it to the GA in Brussels. I represented both EMDC and EMJD-DC this time! It is like 2013 (EMDC) and 2016 (EMJD-DC) combined. It felt nice to be there after previous failed attempts.

We had productive meetings and discussions on the past, current, and future of Erasmus Mundus. Good memories.

Lisbon - Weeks 27 & 28

From Cabo Ruivo to Parque das Nações..

[07/03/2013] - EMDC 2013 batch now received the official invitations, and they are being added to the Facebook group of EMDC. The group is getting more and more active. The excitement of the students remind me the early 2012, when I was expecting the day to join EMDC - good old days. ;)

[05/03/2013] - I have been elected as an Erasmus Mundus Course Representative for the EMDC, for the year 2013. However, since the GA is scheduled on the day of the AVExe exam, I had  to let one of my colleagues from UPC, Barcelona to represent EMDC in the General Assembly. I will miss the GA though.

[27/02/2013] - I bought a Sony Xperia J from fnac, and realized it was locked by Vodafone. It keeps asking "SIM Network Unlock PIN", when I start the phone with the MOCHE SIM, instead of the Vodafone SIM that came bundled with the phone, and without it, it was not working with the MOCHE SIM.

From Spain to Portugal - A boat of descubriter.

I visited fnac and asked whether they could unlock my phone, when I realized that I couldn't unlock it myself or via online services, without paying for their service. Fnac pointed me out that I should contact the service providers to unlock the phone. I reached Vodafone and paid 47.47 Euros to unlock the phone, which included the discount due to the bond with the service provider and the service charge + tax.

I was told I will be sent an sms with the unlock code, in 3 days, which is supposed to be a Saturday. I didn't get any. Assuming they may not work in weekends, I waited further, and eventually waited till the Monday. I still didn't get it! So I reached to them again on the Tuesday, where they unlocked my phone, by entering the unlock code themselves. Never mind, I got it sorted out, at least! :)

[22/02/2013] - Parque das Nações never fails to amuse me. It is full of interesting restaurants, seagulls, and cold wind. The small port of Parque das Nações provides a stay for the mini boats. Parque das Nações surely is a highlight of my year 2013.