Frightening / Worst / Bad experience in Belgium

Well this blog is to document one of my worst experiences here.

But that may be because I was new to this country and I did not know how things work here.

This incident happened in the month of august. It was just one month since I arrived in Brussels in Belgium. I had quit my job in India for my dream of exploring Europe. I have travelled with my husband. And so I was on a job quest mission here.

I had applied in so many companies and so many websites. I had also sent my CV to so many consultants here. Naturally I was getting calls for so many interviews in and around Brussels. By then I had travelled in metro and Delijn bus in Brussels. On this day it was an interview in a place called Merelbeke in Belgium which is in the Vlanderen region of Belgium and close to Ghent. How can I even forget the names.. Never!! I cant..

So I had done a bit of research as usual before going to the interview place about the train and bus routes and had calculated an average time it might take for me to be present there for the interview. I had started from Brussel Central in a train to Melle as the place was close to Melle station than Merelbeke. I bought a ticket to Merelbeke and alighted at Melle; a station before.

That station was a deserted one. Hard to see any station master or anyone in the station. There were just 4 people who got out of the train. I walked towards the bus stop n realized that the bus had left 2min early. So now you can imagine how important 2 minutes is and the train can ruin your life. It was 9.30am and the interview was at 10am. I had decided to walk the 4.5km stretch. So I called up my sweet husband for the route who in fact supported me in this cause and was on call guiding me with the route and I made it 10min late. In fact I ran a lot to make it up; but in vain :(

You might be wondering that nothing till has been disasterous and how come this lady considers this as the worst experience in her life?????

The actual worst part will start shortly and you will soon realize that in spite of being meticulous and prepared, you should have the courage and self confidence. Read on !!!

After the interview was over, I came to the bus stop and I checked the bus timings at the stop and I was atleast 20 min early or may be 10 min late. I had no ticket!! Mind you. I had no ticket and could buy one in the bus like in Brussels or even India. This is what I thought and sat waiting for the bus. Then the bus actually arrived. I confirmed from the driver if the bus was going to the Melle station and he said yes. All is fine... Now comes the ticket part. He asked me for a ticket. I showed him the money and said "Please give me a ticket to Melle station". Can you imagine what the answer was ?? I dont remember his exact words as it was spoken in Dutch and the driver did not know English. The reply was "If you do not have a ticket, I cannot take you in. Please step out of the bus." What would I do? I was so disheartened. Not just because I did not get into the bus as I was already tired walking/running for the interview but because I had another interview in the noon and I would miss the train if I cant make it to the train which was 30min from then. So I decided to run and with all my efforts, I ran and walked so fast. I could not see the train till I came to the station. When I was climbing the steps, the train flagged off. Now you can visualise how even few seconds matter.

Ok so i thought I shall wait for the next train which was an hour later. I started gazing at the deserted station. To my surprise, I realised that this station had no display or no board or no announcements about which train arrived and which train is departing. And to add to this fact, the trains do not have any board or display abt the train name/no/originating and destination stations. So how can I conclude if that was the train which i missed. Its just by the matter of time. And there was no train till another 45 min and some trains stopped by. But how do I know this is the train I need to take? What if the train I am supposed to take is late by some time? Who will tell that. Nobody except the haunting silence in the place. There will be a TC in every train. But not all of them will get out of the train to flag off. They just bend out of the train and flag off which you might not even notice!!

Ok.. So I took a train which was a min earlier than the departing time of the train which I was "supposed" to take. The TC stamped the return journey time on the ticket. After a few stations, I observed that the train was going in another direction and the stations that were seen were not similar to the ones in the route i came in the morning. The TC arrived after sometime and I asked him "Is this train not going to Brussels?" He opened his eyes wide and said "Brussels? No! Mechelen". Imagine my state at that time. Oh!! destiny had favoured me to this place on earth... hmmm.. Ok. Then I asked him if there is a train to Brussels from there and I heard Yes from him. I was happy and made my way to the train which took me to Brussels. So the TC will not even tell you that you are in the wrong train unless you ask specifically. But in a station where there is no display or announcement or when the trains do not even contain a board/display, I wonder how people get to know abt the right train.. Certainly there must be a way out for this which I may not be aware of!

So "Expect the best and be prepared for the worst!!!"