My name is Oliver and I arrived in Belgium in September 2019, as an Erasmus student at KU Leuven. The week-long orientation program included a “Student Life Fair”, where different organizations and clubs came to introduce themselves to the new students. I was lucky enough to meet Hugo from Serve the City Leuven, who passionately shared with me all there was to know about this wonderful organization. That sounds like a brilliant idea, I said to myself, what better way to spend my free time than working with local NGOs and like-minded individuals to serve the very city I live in? So I decided to sign up, and it proved to be one of the best decisions I’ve made during my Erasmus semester in Leuven. Over the past six months, I was able to volunteer with Service the City several times, get involved in community projects spearheaded by such local NGOs as Fabota and Buurtwerk ‘t Lampeke vzw, talk with residents in the neighborhood, and meet kind-hearted volunteers from across the globe. We even threw a party on Christmas Eve for people from underprivileged communities in Leuven, with food, music and great company! Thanks to Serve the City Leuven, my Erasmus semester has been a truly wonderful experience, one that I will remember for a very long time.
Header photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash
