Checklist

This blog is intended for Indians coming to Europe specifically Belgium.
This article summarizes the things that one might have to carry when they pack their bags.
Well its all left to the discretion of the reader to decide his needs and carry what all from the following list may be required.

1. First let’s start off with Clothes – one of the most fancied & fashionable varieties are available in Europe. And any one on earth would be tempted to try different things while being here.

So I would suggest the following –
Working Men:
6 formal shirts (costs about 10-30 or more), 3-4 Tshirts( costs about 5-30euros),
4 formal pants (no idea about costs here) and
2 Jeans pants (if you think that’s heavy you can buy them here. Costs about 20€)
Belts – 2 No
Male Students:
2-3 Formal shirts, 5-6 T shirts, 2 Jeans, 2 Formal pants, 2 Belts
Common for students and working men:
1 pair of formal shoe and 1 pair of slippers. The home wear slippers is optional.
One rain jacket and one sweater or jacket for cold.

Women:
Jeans -2 nos, (if you think that’s heavy you can buy them here. Costs about 5-10€)
Tops (formal or casual) – 6,
In case you are working then u would need formal Pants – 3, if not working then you would need just one or two.
Belts – 2 Nos
3-4 light weight salwar kameez (if you do not want to miss them.. u will hardly find it here).
One rain jacket and one sweater or jacket for cold.
Of course you will end up buying later a lot of them J
Optional: sarees(in case u love to wear and very rare to find here) 3-4nos
Must: one pair of slippers (costs about 10-20€)
home wear slippers – optional
Note: Ornaments or fashionable ear rings, bands, hair clips are expensive here
You wont get bindi packets here.
Eye liner costs about 2€ (not a better quality though)

Tip: Try to carry less weight clothes so that you can incorporate other items in the check in luggage.

You can buy varieties of fashionable clothes in Europe for best prices.
Skirts and Three fourths are considered formal here.
Sports shoe & boots are least expensive. I can say they are cheaper than what you get in India.
Jackets can cost anywhere between 20-50euros (or more for branded ones).

2. Umbrella is a must. Three fold umbrella is what I prefer so that it easily gets into bag.
Even if you spend 2€ or more, most umbrellas that you get here are not sturdy ones for the
wind here.
3. College bag / Back pack - 1 No - will be required to get groceries from shop at least ;)
4. Technical books or any novels (slightly expensive here)
5. Do not miss Laptop, hard disk, cds, dvds, softwares, mp3 players / ipod, headphone with earphones (call to India via internet via messenger or free call is cheaper). These accessories are pretty much costly here.
6. Not to be forgotten are your photos – better to have 15-20 passport size photos on white background even if you are here for just 6 months or lesser or more (cost is 5euros for 5 photos here)
7. Stationaries:
Stapler with one box of pins, scissor, correction tape, some pens, glue stick, file or folders
8. Dual/quad band mobile handset that is used in India would work here as well.
9. Last but not the least are the medicines: tablets for common cold(most likely), cough, fever (most likely), indigestion, head ache, body pain (if u r sportive), vomitting, loose motion, mouth ulcers and if necessary - spray for relieving pain. Of course your personal medicines as medicines here are different and the dosage is slightly high.
Now the other things that can be of more importance to you irrespective of the length of the stay here.

Food: Food is one’s own choice.
Whether you are vegetarian or non vegetarian, for cost cutting you will have to cook at home. Needless to mention that options for vegetarian are very very limited. And I have heard of my non vegetarian friends say that the non veg (meat) being eaten here in restaurants/by people is mostly raw meat. (Sometimes even with the blood stains on it). .Well that is how its used here. I am sure that non vegetarians would not have got the taste they would have in India. And so naturally leaning towards cooking at home J

Cooking at home:
Pressure cooker:
I suggest a 3ltr pressure cooker if you intend to live independently. (You can get it here for about 30€)
A 5ltr one for 2 or more people.

Extra safety valves and gaskets are a must depending on the type of your cooker.
You do get safety valves here. But I suppose they would cost between 2-10euros.
I haven’t come across gaskets here.

Utensils: All stainless steel items are expensive here.
If possible, try to get 2 utensils that fit into the pressure cooker that you get.
Also if possible, another 2 or three vessels with lids if you have space.
Else you can buy a three vessel set in ikea. In case you need, contact me. I can guide you.

One Kadai and one Tava (They are expensive here)














The above items are required. However the following Kitchen items are optional and depends on the extent to which you would cook here. My intention is to tell you what is available here and what is not available here. Its upto you to chose if you would miss it or not.


Cutlery:
Again its expensive here. For a steel set (4 spoons, knifes and forks each) you would pay about min of 4€.
Knife: I would prefer getting one from India for vegetable cutting as the sharpness lasts for long time. The knifes you get here cut slightly slant. So I don’t prefer them.

Serving spoons that are used for serving rice, rasam / sambar and spatula to lift chapthi or dosa from tava and the one used for frying oily items are the ones you would not get here. (hopefully i will upload a pic for all these),

Serving spoons that you get here are like in the picture shown below.
































Chapathi roller is also something that is advisable to be carried from India. Costs about 3€ here.
You may not need the board on which chapathi / roti is usually rolled on.

Tongs(optional) for making phulka or rotis on gas flame or its useful even while frying oily items. You will not probably find it here.














Coconut grating: you will not get it here. Other option is to cut the coco into small pieces and grind in the mixer. This is what I do.














Vegetable grating:
You get it here (costs about 1.5-5€)























Vegetable skin peeler : You dont get this kinda one here. But another one like tongue cleaner :-) and costs about 1€
























Churning:
You can use the egg beater (costs about 50cents to 1€) that you get here. This can also be used for potato mashing.

Or get this kinda one from India

























Sieve: Costs about 1€


























Blender/Mixer:
I suggest not to get it from India. You get a good one for 20€ in Blokker (a shop here) which has a 2 yr warranty period. In case that’s spoilt within this period, you can get a new one for which the warranty period starts from the date you exchanged which is another 2 years.
Iron box can also be bought here.

Shops where you can find Indian groceries:
Pakistani shops in Brussels
Nepali shops in Leuven
Bangladeshi or Pakistani shops in Antwerp

Shops/supermarkets where you can find almost everything else:
Delhaize, GB, Colruyt & Aldi.

Internet connection:
Various service providers are available in Belgium like Telenet, Belgacom, ClearWire and Numericable.

To make calls to India:
Most of us here use
www.freecall.com to make calls to Indian landlines and mobiles. Cost is around 2cents per minute. To add credit, you would need credit card.

PS: Belgian Debit cards are not accepted for any online transaction.

Banking:
Accounts:
Most Banks here charge maintenance fee for savings/current accounts.
Fee varies between 20-30 euros a year.
However one such Bank referred to us by a local citizen which charges no fee for account maintenance and used widely is Keytrade Bank.
Please note that fee varies for students and working class or under 26yrs.

Cards:
Credit cards (master card or visa card) are issued with maintenance fee of about 25-50euros a year. Again certain clauses are to be met for determining fee.

Apartments / Flats rent:
Depends on whether you want furnished or semi furnished or unfurnished apartments, area / region and owners.
The following links can help you find accommodation apart from threads on orkut Indians in Belgium community-
www.xpats.com
www.expatriates.com
www.be-housing.be/En/
www.Immoweb.be
www.vlan.be

Transport:
In Brussels, the modes of transport are –
Metro, tram and Bus (STIB/De Lijn)
In Leuven – De Lijn buses
In Antwerp – De Lijn bus and tram

De Lijn buses run between various parts of Belgium as well.
For railways, its www.b-rail.be

If you have any question, leave me a comment or mail and I will be more than happy to address that.