Life in Belgium

The Romanian community in Belgium is immense and growing. As a matter of fact, Romans are the largest category of immigrants after Moroccans and French, and they are the fastest growing. I have given up on remark when speaking Romanian around me. Our reputation is mixed - on the one hand, there are enough educated Romanians with white-collar jobs to be seen as any other European minority. On the other hand, there are still many Romanians in furtisages, prostitution and begging, which creates some stigma, especially among the more ignorant locals.

The large number of Romanians means that if you want a doctor, plumber, butcher, dentist, manicurist or anything else, find it easy. It also means there are about 10 Romanian stores (maybe more, I lost the string) where you can find what you want (in Brussels, but also in the province), and so many restaurants.

Some banks and recruitment agencies have Romanian mini-departments, advertise in Romanian, etc. Also found in normal supermarkets (Carrefour, Delhaize (Belgian version of Megaimage)) Romanian products, and some neighborhood shops sell pudules and 7days produced specifically for the Romanian public.
Public transport is acceptable, depending on the area and needs. If you stay in an area where the bus only gets harder, but the network is still quite well organized, including weekend buses that go through party districts and go all the way.