Waffles & Craic: Encouragements from an Irish Erasmus student in Belgium
In April, Matthew went to Belgium to meet staff and students from the Flemish IFES movement, Ichtus. One of these international students is Anna from DCU, who shares her experience and the blessings of being part of a CU movement abroad. Read our interview with her below:
Hi, I’m Anna, a CU student from DCU, but I’m currently living in Belgium as an Erasmus exchange student!
How have you found Belgium so far?
It’s been great—the waffles here are amazing. I’m loving it! I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived. I didn’t know if there would be a CU movement like CUI in Belgium.
Have you been able to find anything similar to CUI over here, then?
Yes, actually. I’ve joined Icthus, which is like CUI but with the Flemish IFES movement in Belgium. It’s been such a blessing for me to be in a community like DCU, and I feel really settled with them, and they have such good craic!
We have the same mission and the same goal, but with different ways of doing things. That means I can bring ideas from DCU, and what we’ve done has been helpful to them because it's encouraged them. They’re also really intrigued as to what we do. One time, I mentioned how we did hot chocolate stands in DCU, and they were like, “That’s so cool. Let’s do it!” So it feels like a wee collaboration between Belgium and Ireland.
How would you say being part of the Ichtus community here has blessed you?
In Icthus, they have an international small group that I go to, which is great. Some from Portugal, the Netherlands, and lots of Belgians as well! Everyone there is international, so we got to share that experience of being a bit lost in a new country. It’s been a blessing to see how we can all come together. Even though we come from different backgrounds and cultures and speak different languages, we still share that same faith and goal.
It’s very easy to bring people to that. They really encourage you to invite others, and they’re often held in our homes or accommodation, making it easy for people to attend a Bible study in person. I even had a Bible study on the roof of my accommodation. There were loads of people passing by; it’s such a visible witness. You don’t often see Bible studies out in the open. That challenged me to be more public with my faith. I don’t usually do that, but when that’s the culture of the CU or Icthus, it makes it much easier to be part of that and live it out.
So how has your experience back home in your own CU affected your involvement here?
Yeah, that’s a really good question. One of the things that comes to mind is that I have a lot more respect for international students and how they feel when they come to a different country, because that’s how I felt coming here.
In Ireland, we have a certain way of doing things; we have a demographic we’re trying to reach in our university. So having a fresh perspective on how they reach students in Belgium is really eye-opening to me. I feel very encouraged by their mission work here, and I can’t wait to bring that back to my CU when I go home and do different events inspired by what I’ve seen here.
What have been some things you’ve learnt since being here?
I remember going to church and seeing that a few of the girls were bringing people from their accommodation. So I said to someone in my kitchen, “Do you want to come along to church?” and she said, “Actually, yeah, I would,” and it wasn’t even hard.
One thing we think about when it comes to evangelism is that it has to be a big deal, but it can be really simple! Sometimes it’s harder to talk to your friends about your faith than to a stranger, because there’s more at stake.
At home, I definitely hype up mission and evangelism, but I think the Erasmus student mindset helps me avoid overthinking. I can just say, “There’s this event,” and because it’s called Icthus, it doesn’t seem as scary as “CU”; it’s just bowling with Icthus, bowling with friends who so happen to be Christians!
It’s taught me that we shouldn’t be afraid to mix our friends. Just live your life authentically and not be afraid to say “I’m going to church, I’m going to Icthus”. And when you do, questions follow! And God can use those small moments to build something in someone.
They start asking more questions: “What do you do at these events?” or “Who’s going?” And then they meet people and realise we’re normal; it’s not such a scary thing.
So, what would you say to other Christian students from Ireland who are considering Erasmus but are unsure?
I was definitely one of those people. We often have an idea of what our time away is going to look like, but don’t overthink it! God will use you, and you’ll feel really encouraged during your Erasmus and after because God does more with these things than we imagine. He’ll provide the people, and it’ll be a lot of fun. So go for it! Your time away doesn’t have to just be like a holiday!
