Ana Miranda
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Moving to Ghent, Belgium

27/2/2014

13 Comments

 
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This was definitely one of the most expected moments of the year!

Having our own place meant we’d finally start life as a couple – you know, doing things like grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning and cuddling on our own couch. It meant more privacy and freedom. I was crazy with anticipation! Even for the cleaning part.

To me it also meant more opportunities to study and work, since I can easily get everywhere on foot, by bike or by tram. I was excited to have a new routine and meet new people – you don’t stand out much as a foreigner in Ghent. I immediately started a new level of Dutch and found affordable yoga lessons. In less than a month, life is on track. I’m home.

We only needed to visit two apartments in our search and I consider ourselves extremely lucky for getting this one – it’s clean, well maintained, well located and what’s best, within our budget.

There were times when I couldn’t believe what I saw: dirty bathrooms, paint peeling off, weird layouts like a shower in the middle of the kitchen, exposed wires and so on. But the thing is, people rent those places. A couple of times we had just seen an advertisement, called the owner or the agency and the place was already taken. High demand!

If you’re moving to (or within) Belgium and have to find a house yourself, you must be patient but act fast.

There were two websites I checked every single day: immoweb.be and kapaza.be. They have a great amount of adds so you should know what you want and focus your search. What’s your budget? How many bedrooms do you need? What location do you prefer? House, apartment, loft? What are your deal breakers? For us it was dirty bathrooms and far, isolated locations.

Now, wanna hear something fun (not)? We went to the Ikea every Saturday for a month. Four Saturdays on a row! That was totally my fault because I wanted to start preparing for the move, getting small stuff and browsing furniture so that we knew exactly which ones we wanted once we finally came to get them on moving day. The Ikea website has a nice feature where you can make your shopping list and see if your products are available and where (in that big maze of a warehouse).

We survived our first Ikea experience. Isn’t that a strong relationship?!

But we also had amazing help. Thank you, guys!

If you have more time and creativity (and want to save money) you can go to a second-hand store. They have furniture in very good conditions and you can always renovate them the way you like. It adds charm to your place!


Now I’m off to explore this beautiful city (you’ll be reading many posts about it)!
If you have questions or suggestions, leave a comment below.


13 Comments
Yvonne
27/2/2014 06:12:59 am

Hi Ana Melisa - welcome to Gent! I just moved here in October - coming from the US at the time, though originally I am German ;). I really like the city a lot - plenty things to explore still! I found a little place in the center that you should definitely try: Julies House...their pastries are to die for and definitely worth the ~1 week of constant yoga it'll take to get rid of the calories again. Btw. where do you go for yoga lessons? I found Shambo and I really love it, but I would never gainsay some variety in my practice!

Anyways - welcome to Gent! And if you want to check out more of the international community try internations.org - we have a bar-outing once a month in Gent!

Reply
Ana Elisa Miranda
3/9/2014 09:23:10 am

Hi!
Somehow I missed your comment.
Thanks for the warm welcome :)

Reply
Camila Eylenbosch
27/2/2014 08:38:38 am

Tem tb uma maravilhosa loja de moveis a preços acessiveis em Gent, chama-se WEBA, na Vliegtuiglaan, 100...

Reply
Ana Elisa Miranda
3/3/2014 01:50:35 am

Oi Camila, valeu pela dica!

Reply
Fernanda
5/3/2014 08:08:19 am

oii Ana
te deixei um recadinho no Face
eu moro em Gent tb
vi que você começou ou vai começar o nederlands, onde você vai cursar?
estou estudando nederlands no het perspectief.
se poder me add no Face
Fernanda Vieira
bjo

Reply
Ana Elisa Miranda
10/3/2014 08:03:15 am

Oi Fernanda!
Conversamos no Facebook então! Espero te conhecer logo :)

Reply
Alejandra
9/3/2014 09:57:53 am

Hello Ana!! I saw your blog on the expats in Gent group and it is very good inspiration! I have wanted to start my own blog for a long time now (it's one of my resolutions for this year) but I just didn't know how to start.. but I'll just start and then see how it goes from then :) I'll share it with you once I have it :P (which i hope is... soon..)

Btw... I am from Mexico and have been living in Gent for 2+ years with my boyfriend who is Belgian, and I really like Ghent :)

I have a question, which yoga lessons are you following?

Reply
Ana Elisa Miranda
10/3/2014 08:05:13 am

Hi Alejandra! I'm glad you like my blog! You should definitely start yours and see how it goes. When you do, please send me a link!
I do yoga here: http://fusionyogagent.blogspot.be/

Reply
Liz Hunsaker
6/8/2015 07:59:45 am

Hello Ana Elisa,
My husband and I just moved to Ghent from the states. We have been here for about 3 weeks, and are living in a furnished apartment with our two cats. We have retired here. We lived in Belgium, in Brugge, in the 80's and our first son was born here. We wanted to return because we have friends here, and we plan on buying a boat later to travel through the canals and rivers for our retirement. I was searching for yoga classes in Ghent and found your post! Maybe we can meet sometime.

Reply
Ana Elisa Miranda
6/8/2015 11:35:59 am

Hi Liz, thanks for connecting!

Buying a boat and traveling around sounds lovely! I hope you have an amazing retirement :)

Did you find yoga classes?

Reply
Gabriela
31/8/2016 03:38:18 pm

Hello Ana,

what a coincidence, I typed cheap moving companies Gent and I discovered your blog here. I really enjoyed your short stories and I didn't imagined that you're a writer... That's cool :-)
P.S.: Hope to see you back in ISG soon (in a new building hopefully)
Gabriela

Reply
Ana Elisa
31/8/2016 05:07:19 pm

Hi Gabriela, good to hear from you!
We're back at ISG - lots of work at the new building!. Hope to see you there! :)

Reply
Ana Elisa
31/8/2016 05:08:21 pm

And I'm glad you enjoyed the stories :)


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    Hey! I'm Ana - a teacher who loves reading, writing, traveling and nature. 

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