Second trip -> Gent

I was very anxious about the trip. Gent will be my home town for next 5 and a half months and this is the first time I visit it. Will I like it, I better right!

It all started kind of a same way as with the tip to Antwerpen. We all met at the train station of Leuven. Since here are huge sales in the stores then actually it's the same for the transportation. They want people to go shopping by using the public transport and therefore the return ticket to Gent cost us only 10 euros each (which I actually didn't have to buy, it's included in the language program). The ride was little bit more than an hour, so again a good time to chat and inquire about life somewhere else than Estonia. This time I sat together with 3 Hungarians - Gábor, Gábor and Réka. We talked about cost of living in Hungary and I found out that it's really cheap compared to Estonia. But then again salaries are seriously low as well. Since the guys are related to IT and one of them actually has finished his studies and works in Brussel, then we talked little bit about IT in Hungary. I think I was a good opponent on that subject, since I own lot of inside information in this sector thanks to my lovely (no homo) buddies in Estonia. I asked both Gábors what would be the salary for a developer/programmer if he/she has finished or half way there in IT studies and this will be his/her first job experience in the field. They told me that if you start from scratch with the background I provided then the salary would be around 400 euros. At this point I can quite surely confirm that with the situation in Estonia (lack of experienced and hardworking developers/programmers) the salaries in IT, even for rookies, are higher. Companies should import IT work outside country borders and actually I know they're doing it already. So I think it's no news for "the big sharks" in Estonia.

There are two train stations in Gent: Sint.-Pieters and Dampoort. Sint.-Pieters is kind of the main train station and location is outside city centre, around 30min walk. Dampoort on the other had is on the edge of centre. We arrived to Sint.-Pieters and had a little walk to do which I actually liked a lot because I have to take the same route when I go to Gent on Thursday.

Our first stop was........ of course a brewery - GRUUT. We paid fixed price (I again didn't have to pay anything) and got to taste 3 different beers that they are brewing there with a guy or guide explaining the whole process and why they are so special. But I won't go there cause anyone who's interested on that can find the information online. But one thing actually that I found interesting and worth of pointing out is called anamorphosis. Maybe you guys have herd about it but basically it's an ancient way of drawing but to see the image you have to use a certain device or a tool to understand what is really featured on the picture. Why I am saying it is ancient? Well because in old times erotical pictures (nowadays porn :)) were not allowed and with that technique it was made possible to draw pictures of naked women. And to come back the the brewery and drinking beer then on the beer glass is little mirror to reflect the drawing on the coaster (in estonian: õllealus/klaasialus). Check the picture and you'll know what I mean. Anyway, I now found it very cool and interesting art. :)

After the brewery we had lunch and then city tour, only that this time we didn't have a guide to take us through the city, but we also didn't get away that easy. We made group of fives and Ellen (our language teacher) gave each group a paper full of tasks to do and questions to get answers to. That meant talking with locals in local language so we could put Dutch in practice. I know you guys think that hell we were talking in Dutch when actually we could get away with English easily. But to be honest, we really did ask the questions in Dutch and by the way I got a compliment from a local of my very good Dutch. So get your dictionaries ready cause the next postings will be in Nederlands :).

Oh yeah, on more thing, actually two. I also had time to check the location of my soon to be new home in Gent and you guys will be very very jealous. But I will talk about it when I'm there :). And secondly to go back where I started with this posting, if I would like Gent then my answer is - HELL YES!!! - and the pictures are to prove that. Hope you enjoy.