Feeling part of a community: the podcast festival of De Standaard 

Despite things going better and better, I'm still living on a tight budget, and going there was a real investment, between the entrance tickets and the 2-hour train journey from Brussels.

Since when I arrived in Belgium I've always wanted to know the country, which I had only heard talking about.

I still remember when on Italian television a quite old singer, Rocco Granata, would always close his performances with:

"Many greetings to the Italians in Belgium!".

What's Belgium? Why are there so many Italians there?

He was one of them. Actually he still lives here, in Antwerp.

Growing up, the only other time an Italian would hear about Belgium, besides "Brussels" (mentioned because of the EU affairs) would be on the anniversary of an accident in the coal mine of Marcinelle that happened in August 1956. We even study about it at school.

Beyond this, nothing (I should mention the Dutroux case, but I won't... go Google it in case).

Integration goes through common references

Until when I quit my job, I followed the news in general, but never watched Belgian TV, except occasionally a channel about local news in Brussels, of course in French.

When I quit and I thought:

"Mmm, it's time to belgify myself",

I had a very vague idea about the country itself. I wanted to know more, but until then I was surrounded by people who didn't care and it was a bit discouraging.

When I quit, I forced myself to watch the news consistently during the dinner. Slowly, I got acquainted with the different faces, the guests, and the programs they mentioned... which are part of the general culture.

It took me a while to start doing the same with the Dutch side of the country haha, but I don't remember when, probably around May or June, I started getting the habit of listening to podcasts in Dutch.

I found the one of the De Standaard particularly suitable for my needs. Very well done, people don't speak too fast or too slowly, there are always topics regarding the news. A nice jingle made the rest. It became a morning ritual during breakfast.

After all these months, it was about time to throw myself into a full Flemish event.

The big leap

Thanks to linguistic and cultural proximity, it is naturally easier for Italians to get along with French-speaking Belgians. But, I didn't want to stop there.

I wanted to see "them" in a non-international environment, in a very local setting, not with other Belgians. And, I had a little challenge for myself: trying to speak at least to 2-3 people.

For some weird reason, small talk comes much easier to me with French-speaking Belgians than Italians, so I wanted to see if I could make it with "them".

Well.

It was a success.

Probably my skepticism or the whole idea of a "challenge" was just a bullsh*t based on stereotypes, but there is a clear difference in the average behavior, so I wanted to see if it could be a problem for me. A foreigner, in their land, in their environment.

I felt a bit like the guys who camouflaged to film animals for documentaries. Of course, my face doesn't help a lot vanuit dat oogpunt (from that point of view), but I have the language on my side.

I joined different sessions and I could follow most of what was said, but I didn't know certain podcasts they were talking about, so I was a bit clueless.

Whereas, in the afternoon I finally could go and see the hosts of That Podcast I listen to during breakfast!

Dit is 'Vandaag', de dagelijkse podcast van De Standaard, ik ben Alexander Lippeveld

These words are how every episode starts. First of all, I finally got to see the face of Alexander Lippeveld haha, the main speaker. I expected him to be well in his 40s from the voice, but I guess he is a lot younger.

That moment was amazing because I could get all the references, the jokes... that's when you feel part of the community.

I was laughing with the others and I did know why.

I could understand which episode they were referring to here and there...

And at the end, I finally dared get close to the stage and tell him just a couple of sentences, that I was using their podcast to improve my Dutch and that I liked it a lot for the reasons above... he was extremely kind and smiled saying "Thank you, it's very nice to hear it". Things normal people say, no?

But I still missed the small talk.

I had been texting my boyfriend all day long when my phone battery started asking for mercy.

I needed to charge it. How to talk to people when you're stuck next to a column because you have to wait for your phone to resurrect?

This is not a socket

Nope, this is still not a socket.

This is the new coffee machine.

This is the new smokers' corner.

This is where 2023's small talk takes place.

Next to a power socket, that romantically makes people meet, makes them have a digital pit-stop, and talk to each other. Because standing for minutes close to each other in silence feels weird for Flemings too.

That's how a sir started charging his phone and then said:

"So, what are the best sessions you've seen today?"

Thank you for talking to me and for doing it in Dutch. He made my day.

I was so excited that at some point I started freaking out and cut the conversation as if I had to go. I was so happy and I didn't want to become logorrheic in a language I don't master that much.

Now I regret it because I would have loved to keep in contact, but in the meanwhile, that was a first step I wasn't hoping for anymore at that point.

I had a peak of adrenaline, so I went outside to watch the gorgeous stormy sky on the sea. Happy for the achievements of the day.

Then, I slowly walked to the station and as soon as I got on the train I felt a huge wave of tiredness because of the adrenaline wearing off.