8750 in Ghent

It has been more than 2 months that I 'live' in the center of Ghent, so I thought: hey why not make a blogpost about one of Belgians most beautiful cities.

Ghent: capital of the province East-Flanders, one of Belgiums most famous university cities, one of the most annoying accents that we have in Flanders,.. As a born and raised West Fleming, I grew up with a lot of prejudices about Ghent. I grew up in a village near Bruges (capital of the province West Flanders), and the hate between Bruges and Ghent goes back to the medieval time. West Flemish people think that Bruges is the best and most beautiful city in Flanders and vice versa. So, me as a West Fleming and 8750er (Wingene for life) who decided to go studying in Ghent, imagine what kind of a prejudices I had about this city.

First of all I had to convince my parents that I wanted to go study in Ghent, and not in Bruges. My mother always told me: "when you have found a course that you want to follow, and when they have this course in a school in Bruges, then you'll go to that one". So luckily I decided to follow IBM, a course which you can only follow in Ghent or Antwerp, and because I don't want to go to Antwerp (another story about prejudices) they would have to let me go to Ghent.

So, I got enrolled in the course IBM and I even convinced my parents to let me stay in a dorm, what now? The first 2 weeks I kinda went on a mission to discover the city of Ghent. I may live about 30-40 minutes away from it, but in my whole life I have been to Ghent maximum 10 times. And I got to admit: I'm in love with Ghent. My dorm is located perfectly: a 5-10 minutes walk to our main campus, a 5 minutes walk to the Veldstraat ,a supermaket located 150 meters from my doorstep, a tram stop located 100 meters from my dorm,.. it's a dream that came true. I always wanted to live in a big city (mainly because I grew up in the countryside) and now I kinda do!

Living in a big city has his pros and cons. Because you live in a big city, you discover new and amazing places. I discovered new places such as Wasbar, Head or Tails (one of my favourites), Foley's and many more. Something else which is amazing about Ghent is the view. One of my hobbies is photography, I like to make photo's of everything. And I got to say: Ghent is truly a goldmine. You can find everything over here: nature, amazing clouds, architectural beauties,.. Some examples:

    

One of the biggest disadvantages is the noise pollution, this is especially hateful when you want to get some sleep after a night out with your friends or student movement..

As a born and raised West Fleming it's hard to say this, but I fell in love with this wonderful city called Ghent. I always wanted to live in a big city and now I finally am! I try to enjoy every minute of it. When I'm not in my dorm studying (something that needs to be done ofcourse) you can always find me in the Head or Tails, Starbucks or just on a mission to discover new places in this heaven on earth!

This blogpost was about how I fell in love with Ghent, see you in a few weeks! :)

Society is a bitch

It's the Ascension holiday, perfect time to write a new blog post. And this time it will be about me, who I really am.

17 August 1997, it was 6 AM and a small kid decided that he was ready to explore this giant world. That small kid got the name Lars Vergote, named after one of Swedish best football players ever: Henrik Larsson. Thus far my relationship with any Scandinavian country, because everytime when I go on a holiday people think that I'm either Scandinavian or Russian.. I got to admit, I don't mind to drink some Wodka, but hey who doesn't? 

I grew up in Wingene, it's a village in West Flanders, and yes it's true what they say about Wingene: there are more pigs than people in our village! I grew up with my parents and 2 brothers: Bram (11 years older) and Pieter (14 years older). I went to Centrumschool (way better than Sint Elooi or Wildenburg, Wingene kids will understand the hate) and I also played football at our local team: KVC Wingene. The first ten years of my life I was obsessed with football, and I don't want to brag about myself but I was really good at it. I scored each season around 150-180 goals and Club Brugge wanted me! But then, on a warm October day in 2007 my life changed forever. 

Try to find me ;)

I was playing football at the playground when I got stuck with my foot in a subsidence. I wasn't looking to my feet and wanted to keep running so my kneecap made a 360. Before I knew, I was lying in the hospital having a knee operation. Conclussion after 4 months of rehabilitation: 1/10 of my kneecap is dead and I will never be able to play football again. When I heard this, my life collapsed because football was (and still is) a huge part of my life. A few years ago we tried to fix my kneecap again because the operation that I had wasn't performed well. So we went to the sports doctor of Club Brugge (my father works there) and he tried to flow some blood in my kneecap again by placing 5 aluminium pipes in it, but the harm has already been done. 

I'm not that kind of person who sits back and doesn't do a thing about it, so I started swimming at the Tieltse Zeeduivels. For the first time after my operation I finally was able to enjoy sports again. I even became third on the Flemish championship 200m crawl! But the amount of school work and intensive training schedule (training at 5:30 am before going to school) decided that I had to stop doing something that I liked, again. 

And life after that wasn't easy. Bad grades during my first year of secondary school, no motivation to do sports again which leaded to becoming fat, getting bullied, having difficulties making friends in secondary school,.. Secondary school wasn't really what I expected it to be. During my second year I was in a new class and made new friends, but the bullying never stopped. It was only during my final year that I decided to do something about.I realised for the first time that life is what YOU make of it. So I grew myself a beard (I always wanted to have one), changed my hairstyle and outfit and started jogging. For the first time in 6 years I was who I am, not a puppet of what society wanted me to be. And I got to say, it was the best decision of my life! 

So to all the kids out there, who are struggling in secondary school: be yourself, do what you want and what you think is best for you. Secondary school is only a phase in your life, don't let those kids decide who you are! 

To end this blog post, I want to share some lyrics of an amazing song (Sum41 - Fat Lip). It's kinda my life motto: " I don't want to waste my time, become another casualty of society". 

See you in a few weeks!