Who are you?
My name is Mel and I am an American woman, married to a Dutch man. I'm a geek, reader, blogger and photographer. You know. Just a girl.
Where, when and why did you move abroad?
I moved from the US to Antwerp, Belgium, in 2009. We came because my husband was (and still is) in university over here and we did not want to continue our relationship across an ocean. Besides which, I love it in Europe and was thrilled to have a good reason to come over!
What challenges did you face during the move?
Not very many. It isn't very difficult for an American to come over here, especially since we got married at the same time. The biggest thing was finding a reputable (and not overly-priced) company to ship some of my possessions over here, and finding a place to live (which frustrated me, because I was in the US and unable to view the properties or know much about them). My husband ended up getting our apartment about a week before I arrived here.
How did you find somewhere to live?
My husband scoured internet sites for renting in Belgium, and emailed/called up the ones that looked good in the right areas. If the people he contacted responded positively, he set up appointments and took a train over here (he was in the Netherlands at the time, about 2hrs away from here) to check them out. I think he visited 3, and had contact with a handful of others. When we settled on our apartment, there was some paperwork that needed to be done, and since he was a student (not working), his parents also made some sort of guarantee with...
Read more about life in Antwerp
www.expatfocus.com/expatriate-belgium-experiences-antwerp-mel
No comments:
Post a Comment