By Rebecca Bowie
At the conclusion of my trip I am happy to say that I learned so much from my time spent in Belgium. Overall Belgium has implemented some incredible sustainability practices. One of my favorite things that they are working on in the near future is the optimization of wet lands. The idea of a green wall that also cleans waste water is incredible. I can only hope that it has good enough results to be implemented world wide. It will add a wonderful scenery as well as clean water. Sustainability in Europe is far above the movement for sustainability for the United States. Culturally, Belgium was not significantly different than the United States.
As a culture, Belgium is much more active than the United States. Due to the closeness of everything, it is extremely common to simply bike or walk everywhere you need to go. IN the United States, one of the most exciting moments growing up is turning sixteen and getting your drivers license. In Belgium, you can not drive until eighteen years old and even then most people wait until they start a full time job to get a drivers license. Another difference is the ideology around marriage. It is very common to live with a “partner” in Belgium, have kids and live in basically a nuclear family setting, and never actually get married. In the United States, it is rare that people do not get married. There are tax benefits to being married in the United States but they do not have that same system in Belgium therefore most people do not see the point in getting married. Food wise Belgium eats less red meat than the United States. They tend to eat their biggest meal for lunch and have a smaller dinner.
This class has open my thinking to be more understanding to different cultures. Since I have never been out of the United States before this was my first true experience of being immersed in a different culture. While we had many differences from Belgium we also had many similarities. The students of Ghent had a similar mindset to Arkansas students. We had a chance to spend time with the students that worked to organize our visit and realized that they are not very different from ourselves.
In conclusion, I was so incredibly blessed to spend two weeks exploring Belgium and soaking up all of the knowledge that the wonderful staff of Ghent University had to share. I will take the amazing sustainability practices I have witnessed in Belgium and find ways to implement them into my life at home. This experience has allowed me to grow as a person and see the world in a new and different light. This trip has ignited a new desire to travel, I look forward to my next opportunity to visit Europe or other parts of the world and share my knowledge I have gained from Belgium and share it with the world. Food sustainability will become more prioritized in my life moving forward.
