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Youth Perspectives on Moving To Brussels

Jenna Sharp

When it comes to moving, it can be stressful, overwhelming and scary. On the other hand, along with moving comes with new possibilities to make new friends and make new memories. It’s not only the adults who might have trouble with moving, but their children (specifically teenagers) have to leave places which they might have had a strong connection with.

Brussels, Belgium is a very welcoming city – but not all teenagers who are from Canada, have really heard of it or been well educated on the country Belgium itself. Moving to a country or city where no one has ever really heard about is a little more difficult to get used to than moving to another province in Canada. The primary thoughts that circle through teenager’s heads are: “Will I have trouble making new friends?”, “what if I can’t speak the language?” and “what if people think I’m weird?” These thoughts are completely normal - adults also sometimes think negatively before moving into a new home and lifestyle, and if they are affecting their children’s lives in a negative way.


To sum all of all of the feelings that would be going through the teenagers heads, they mainly emphasize the negatives rather than the positives. They don’t usually blame the city or area itself, because as mentioned earlier, it is most likely that not all teenagers are experts on Brussels. As everyone knows, it is difficult to quickly adapt to a new environment, and for a teenager, most of the time these moves are unexpected. Moving to Brussels should be a fun experience, not a forced one.


What needs to be done, is that teenagers and of course parents need to go into research about the school they would be going to (if already known prior to moving). This helps by knowing more about specific courses and about the school’s environment. Another helpful tip would to get in contact with another student who also goes to the school for more insight and to connect with another person who has gone through the same situation.

Moving can be quite scary, but with help and support by other’s around you it eventually becomes an awesome adventure. For the teens out there who are or might be sad about moving to Brussels, it is a lovely city with nice parks and great people. There is no need to be scared about meeting new people either, because the schools are very international and everyone knows what it feels like to move to a new place. Overall, there is no need to be uber stressed about the city itself, focus on getting to Brussels and settling in. It’s one heck of a ride!

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