Going home
Practical aspects to think about when you leave Leuven
Things you must do before you leave Leuven and Belgium:- Take your ID-card to the City Office; this may be important in case you come back (in order to receive your visa sooner)
- Inform your bank and your health insurance company
- Take your bike to Velo or sell it
- Visit to the K.U.Leuven Shop for your K.U.Leuven souvenirs
- If you are expecting important post, have it forwarded to your home address via mutapost
- There is a rubbish pick-up day for large furniture and household items on 6 July (you must attach stickers to each item; buy them at the City Office). Alternatively, you can dispose of the items at one of the container parks (also for a fee)
- Re-usable furniture or household items: take them to Spit or call them (016 26 09 21) to pick it up.
- Sell it on the internet: Pangaea forum, e-bay, www.2dehands.be,
or leave your household items (only useful and clean pots & pans, plates, cups, cutlery) at the Housing Service (Van Dalecollege, Naamsestraat 80) where other students can pick them up.
If you were employed as a student employee in 2011, ask your employer for the "281.10" form and get a blank tax form for the 2012 fiscal year at the Tax Office at Philips site. Copy the information from the “281.10" form onto the tax form (for help, see: How to fill in your tax form) and return it to the Tax Office.
The Social Service can help you to fill in your tax form. If you are expecting a tax rebate next year, it is advisable to keep your Belgian bank account or give the Tax Office authorisation to transfer the rebate to a foreign account number.
If you expecting other bills, please send those services your new address.
Have a safe journey home!
Dealing with the ‘new’ experiences, feelings and expectations at home
Facing some challenges when travelling to a new country, speaking a different language and learning the dynamics of another culture is expected. But going home?... We know that place!
When returning home, you may not realise how much you have changed after being gone. In adjusting to life in a new culture your perceptions, habits and maybe even values have changed – perhaps unawares – to help you fit in in the cultural context of your host country. While abroad, you probably held on to a wonderful mental picture of your home environment only to find, when you return home, that reality may not always measure up to that picture.
Family members are often surprised by the behaviour of returnees. They expect that the same person who boarded the airplane one year ago will be returning. Especially if they have never been abroad, your parents and siblings probably won’t understand the magnitude of the study abroad experience and the changes it can bring about in a person. While abroad, you may have become more independent, structuring your life as you wished. Back home, you may be expected to conform again to the lifestyle of your family, giving up some of that freedom. As a result you may interpret your family’s involvement in your life as overprotective and restrictive.
Your friends may also find that you have grown apart from them, that you no longer share the same interests. Or, you may find that your old friends no longer meet your present needs. It may become necessary to find new friends, to seek out other students who have studied abroad, who will be able to relate to your experience and support you as you re-adjust at home.
Communication can help you face these challenges. Tell your family and friends how you feel. They will be eager to help you and understand your re-adjustment. This does not mean that you have to renounce your experience and give up everything you’ve learned! Learn to strike a balance between the old and new, just as you did when first adapting to your host country’s culture.
Don’t be offended if your friends don’t appear enthusiastic about your stories. They may have no connection to the people and places in your stories. It is also possible that some might be jealous of the opportunity you’ve had and may think that you are bragging or showing off. Avoid going into too much detail about the people you met or about complicated issues that your friends may know nothing about. Refrain from making excessive and unnecessary comparisons between your country and your host country.
Also remember that time didn’t stop at home while you were gone. Life went on and there are matters that now concern your friends that may have nothing to do with your time abroad, but that are as important to them as your experience is to you.
Recognise the changes that have occurred in you and the new skills you have learned as a result of your study abroad experience. These skills can serve you well as you reintegrate into life at home, at your home campus and as you prepare for your future. Study abroad can make you:
- More independent: you had to learn to fend for yourself in another culture and adapt to a new way of doing things.
- More aware of international issues: you have stepped outside of the protective comfort of home to see that people in the world have many concerns that you are not at all aware of. You may now be better at determining the completeness and objectivity of news reports, which are often steeped in cultural bias.
- Sensitive to differences in people: having immersed yourself in a different culture, you have experienced that there are different ways of thinking, doing, feeling and communicating. This can help you in relationships with people at home, people whose values and customs might be different from yours, but no less valid or “normal” than yours.
- Competent in another language: foreign language skills are always an advantage in your studies, your social life and your future work. New languages give you new perspectives on the world and broaden your horizons.
Be proud of this new experience!
