Dr. Nicole Basaraba

Assistant Professor in Digital Humanities, TCD

Halloween for Adults

This week leading up to Halloween in the lunchroom, my colleague asked: so what are you doing for Halloween (with the undertone: “being a Canadian”)? Halloween is generally a day for kids and for parents of very young children to reap the benefits because lets face it, the cuter the kid is, the more candy
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How to: Spot a Canadian in Brussels

Whether they are a tourist or an expat in Brussels, you can always tell someone is Canadian if: 1) When you move your chair in closer to the table in a restaurant to the point where you are obviously uncomfortable so that the person can get by easier: they say “thank you” in English of
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Sick Day in Belgium

Last night was one of those nights where you are awake piling up the Kleenexes into pyramid, coughing, and drinking gallons of water due to the soreness in the throat.

A Canadian learning French in Belgium

I started French classes. Yeah, I finally caved. After years of vowing to never take French, I have been coerced by the question “You’re Canadian! Don’t you speak French?” and the loneliness of verbal isolation to start learning. I must be the only person, wait, the only female on this planet who does not like
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“You’re from Canada! Don’t you speak French?”

Living in Belgium, where French is one of the national languages, I get this remark a lot: “you’re Canadian and you don’t speak French?” It’s quite shocking to every European I’ve come into contact with. In Belgium, there are three official languages: Flemish (60%), French (40%), and German (1%). Flemish is spoken mainly in Flanders
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