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Milena Kardasheva

Milena Kardasheva

Hi, there! I think I might have something useful to tell you. How am I so sure? Because I am just like you - an international student!

FAIRYTALE OR NIGHTMARE? OR VICE VERSA!

My name is Milena, 24 year-old, a Master’s student of Marketing in Ghent University, coming from Bulgaria. 

Studying a Master’s degree abroad was one of my dreams. I am this type of person who loves to have as much experience as possible in life. I have already participated in many extracurricular activities during my Bachelor’s studies. I also did my Erasmus in Portugal. Coming to Ghent was my final goal to achieve. And I made it. The whole September and October I was so over the moon. I was captivated by the beauty of the city, how nice everyone was, how well-equipped was the university, and the nightlife opportunities. I was soooo optimistic, having this big plan in my head: “Okay, now I am finally living alone, away from my parents. I will be totally independent, living my best life. I will find a job to fully sustain myself. I will have the best grades. I will attend most of the student events. I will be doing sports. And if I have time (which I thought would be the case), I will participate in a student organization to keep developing my personal and professional skills.”

Guess what? If I only knew at that moment how much I was lying to myself. Nothing turned out to be the way I planned. The fairytale magically altered into a nightmare.

The study load was huge and I barely had time to meet my fellow students. I was mainly randomly distributed in teams where others were not putting so much effort which forced me to study even harder to get the project done. Consequently, not only the time left that I had got smaller and smaller but I was rejected from student jobs soooo many times because I cannot speak Dutch. I couldn’t find a place to exercise, nor could I find a university organization to participate in because of the language barrier. My brand new phone and all my documents and cards got stolen and I had to face the huge nightmare called “bureaucracy” for 3 months until I managed to restore it all back. I was devastated…

The reason I am sharing this with you is that going through all of this cost me a lot of patience, resources and effort. However, it also gave me immense experience and knowledge of “how things work”. I would like to share it with you and make your life a little bit easier.   

Without further ado, below you will find the most essential tips and tricks summarized:  

Study place

You can always study at your faculty’s library or at home. However, the place which I found really nice to do so is De Krook. It is a big library close to the center and campus UFO. The 3rd floor has huge windows, letting a lot of sunlight inside and offering you an amazing view of the city. There are many tables and outlets where you can charge your laptop. De Krook is open every day besides Sunday. On Sundays you can always go to a nice café since most of them also have wi-fi. 

Study materials

If you don’t have good notes or don’t consider them detailed enough for the exams you are about to take, do not hesitate to ask your fellow Belgian students. Very often most of them have had a similar/the same subject during their Bachelor’s. Most of them are very kind and would share this information with you. This is how I found very useful materials for some of the subjects I was struggling with.  

Printing study materials

No doubt that printing at the university is the cheapest! Here you can find detailed information on the exact prices and locations where you can do so: https://helpdesk.ugent.be/publicrepro/en/ 

However, you can only print during the working hours of the university and you can only pay if you have charged up your student card. The university printing also offers only one type of thickness of the paper. If you need to go to a printing store with extended working hours or you need a paper with a different size, I highly recommend Copyland Gent. It works also on Saturdays. The staff is very nice (helped me multiple times). You can use the wi-fi there for free and it is the second cheapest after the university printing. 

University clubs and organizations

Most of the student organizations do require Dutch to participate in. However, AIESEC does openly welcome international students since their organizational language is English. AIESEC is the biggest NGO, led by youth in over 120 countries and territories. The goal of the platform is to develop their youth’s leadership potential through practical experiences of many kinds, including internships, volunteering opportunities, and more. AIESEC is suitable for all types of students since it has a Marketing, Finance, Business and Recruiting department. The organization is also free of charge. Most of my soft and hard skills I have developed thanks to AIESEC when I was part of the organization during my Bachelor’s. I have also attended multiple international conferences with them and thus vastly expanded my experience and my acquaintances. You can find more information here: https://aiesec.be/gent/

Student life

The best and easiest way to meet up and have fun with other International or local students is to join the events of: 

    • one of the student clubs of your faculty. In my case this is VEK (https://www.facebook.com/VlaamseEconomischeKring). They have events every week. They announce them in their Facebook page as well as in the faculty WhatsApp group. Normally, you have to pre-register and for a small fee you can do many different activities (from sports to pub crawling). 

  • ESN (Erasmus Student Network) (https://www.facebook.com/esn.gent). Even though you are not an Erasmus student, as an International student you also have the right to take part in the ESN activities. They post their activities on their Facebook page or you can write to them to be added in the Telegram group chat, where updates are posted most frequently. This is by far the best way of having intercultural experience! In order to join the activities, you would have to firstly issue an ESN card which can happen in their office (Hoveniersberg 24, Ghent, Belgium) every Tuesday and Thursday, 19:00-21:00 h. The best part is that with this card you have plenty of discounts (Ryanair, Flixbus, Flibco, etc.). More information here: https://esncard.org/discover

Student Job 

There are plenty of opportunities for the Dutch-speaking people (student cafeterias, find a job in an HR agency (interim)). Unfortunately, for only English-speaking students it is not so easy. I will list now several ways that you can find a student job if this is the case for you: 

  • Interim (HR agency) - AGO and Synergy have jobs for English-speaking people only. Usually, the jobs consist of working in a factory around 40 mins cycling away (depending on where you live in Ghent.) The advantages are, though, that you get paid weekly. 
  • App - NOWJOBS - This is an app created by the interim ACCENT - Via making a profile there and verifying your identity, you will be able to see all the vacancies near you. There is a filter for type of jobs, location, etc. The vacancies are for several hours, days or weeks. You can work today in Albert Heijn and tomorrow help in the kitchen of a restaurant. It all depends on you. With clicking only one button you can apply for a job.
  • Website - https://www.student.be/en - It is a website like any other recruiting website with the difference that it is specifically made for student jobs. Here you can find good offers for the domain you are currently studying for. Unfortunately, the majority is for Dutch-speaking people. However, there are some for only English-speaking people as well. If you have experience in the sector, I strongly advise you to still apply for the job, since very often your experience may outweigh the fact that you don’t speak the local language. 
  • Handing out your CV in restaurants and cafés - This one worked the best for me. Just print 50 copies of your CV and go to the most crowded places of the city (around Korenmarkt, Friday market, Grasbrug, Overpoort, etc.) Hand out your resume in restaurants, cafés, bars, discos, stores. 
  • Tip 1: Make sure that your CV stands out. Put some color in it or a very nice design. This is how I impressed the managers. In canva.com you can find really nice templates;
  • Tip 2: Usually the vacant positions are: kitchen helper, bartender, barista, waitress. You don’t really need experience in this since they would show you how things are done. However, make sure to point out in your CV any relevant experience that you may have connected to the hospitality sector;
  • Tip 3: It is best to hand out your CVs in the beginning of the working day for the place you are going to. Usually this is the moment when the manager is there. He/She is the person you have to talk with! For restaurants this would be around 11 a.m. or midday. For cafés - around 9-10 a.m. For bars - around 4 p.m. Mind that many of them do not work on Mondays. If he/she is not there, always ask for their contact (phone or email). Otherwise, the staff may forget to tell them that you were there. If this is not possible, give out your printed resume to the staff. Come back in 2-3 days to remind them of your visit since most probably they have forgotten to give it to the manager. It is very hectic in this sector;
  • Tip 4: Always be smiling and confident! In this domain there is nothing more valued! Be prepared to hear a lot of “NO”s. However, I can assure you that if you hand out your CV in 50 places you would receive at least 3 offers.

Summarizing, all of the job opportunities are very flexible. You can make your own schedule. You have a daily contract, meaning that you can stop the job any time that you want to, without informing in advance. 

Sports

The best options that I have found are the following:

  • Basic Fit  - This is the most popular gym in Ghent. They have locations everywhere in the city (even in other countries such as Germany and the Netherlands). By having a subscription for 30 EUR/month you can go to any location (even in other countries) and bring a friend with you for free. This means that if you always go with a fellow, you can split the cost. 

Municipality and state institutions 

Whatever you need to do in a state institution, make sure you always make an appointment! Always! (Even going to the police requires an appointment.) What is also very important, always check not twice but three times all the documents required for the job you need to get done. If you even miss one small thing, you will not be able to finish the task. You would have to make a new appointment maybe in several days or even weeks. I am strongly advising you this since I have already wasted many hours because I forgot to make an appointment or forgot a document I should have brought. If you have any questions or do not understand something, it is always better to call them or ask a local friend. In this way, you will make sure to go to the institution prepared and on time. The last tip would be: DO NOT BE LATE. If you are later than 10 mins after your appointment, you would have to make a new one and wait again for several days/weeks. They are very strict with this!

Going through all of that and trying to follow my own advice, I managed to reverse the nightmare into a fairytale. I am happy with my grades. I attend most of the university events. I have two student jobs. And, I regularly do sports. No doubt, however, it is very hard to do all of it. But it is part of the experience!

I really put all my heart in writing this long message to you. And I really DO HOPE that you found at least one of my advice useful and I was able to reduce the anxiety you might have been having about it! 

If you need a friend, someone to talk to, advice or you just want to grab a coffee or a beer, I would be happy to meet you! You can find me on Facebook or Instagram: @milenakardasheva 

Best of luck to all of us! You have already made it so far, so you are stronger than you think! 💪💗