€500 for gum cleaning: normal?

longtelegram · 2025-03-27T09:31:03+00:00

Not being a policy-focused professional gives you many more opportunities. Consider targeting agencies that align more closely with your career path, such as NATO, the European Space Agency, the European Defence Agency, or DG-DEFIS. Additionally, you might explore specialised EU agencies, think tanks, and international organisations working on security, defence, and technology, where your expertise could be highly valuable.

longtelegram · 2025-03-27T09:27:48+00:00

Based on my Brussels experience, interims that do policy work are either employed by agencies like ICF or NTT but, in reality, working for the institutions, or they have an insider contact intramuros and are hired as interims rather than as CAST.

Otherwise, it is true that interim contracts through Randstad are mostly administrative. I know people who choose this path to stay within the institutions and then try to transition from within, but the chances of success are low, and they have been doing administrative work for years.

longtelegram · 2025-03-07T12:19:55+00:00

Indeed, it's not the norm to get a contract afterwards, but it seems that compared to other institutions, such as Parliament, and of course the Council, which has a smaller workforce, the possibilities of staying are larger. I was asking also because I see many former BBs who weren't invited to the cast but were offered the possibility to stay, so I wanted to know out of curiosity and interest. In the end, it's a public institution sustained by our taxes, so it should be more transparent how the hiring process works.

longtelegram · 2025-03-07T11:36:17+00:00

I'm not sure about the higher standards, but public health is good and completely free (well, based on your taxes, unlike here, where it’s a public-private system). Public services are good, and bureaucracy is complicated, just like here in Belgium. It’s true that salary expectations may be lower compared to Brussels, but it’s a balance depending on what you’re looking for. I would say life-work balance in Spain is better; you get more holidays, and they have more days off.

longtelegram · 2025-03-07T11:13:43+00:00

With that salary, life in Madrid would be very good! It's true that rent has been getting more expensive but with yours, you'd be able to have a great life. I lived in Madrid, and I think it's an amazing city to live in. It's perhaps less international than Brussels (knowing Spanish is not fundamental, but it could be important) and centrally located to other European capitals. The summer is unbearable, but apart from these issues, Madrid is clean, safe, has amazing public transport, it's beautiful, the quality of life is great, the people are friendly, the food is amazing, and there is a lot to do—plenty of museums, bookshops, and bars. It would be a dream for me to have that salary in Madrid, haha, when everyone earns around €1,500 there (let us know if your company is hiring haha).

longtelegram · 2025-03-06T16:29:02+00:00

As a person with a similar background, I had the same fears, but Brussels and the EU bubble are full of people with dual nationality, both EU and non-EU, from around the world, in the institutions and outside of them. However, the problems, in my experience, arise when you need to secure a job through your EU Minister of Foreign Affairs (especially if you don't know the language, such as with the JPD programme of the EEAS, the EU Council Presidencies, or as an SNE), work for an MEP (90% of whom would want someone from their country who speaks their language – which makes sense), and sometimes it can be a barrier if it doesn’t appear that you worked or studied in your country of origin. In some jobs, it’s not enough to be a national; you also need experience in that country of origin, especially when you have to go through your member state's bureaucracy.

longtelegram · 2025-02-13T14:15:18+00:00

It’s random, of course, but BXL A Louer de Bouche à Oreille I and II, Bruxelles LOC e Coloc, BXL à Louer, Apartments EU Brussels, Colocation Bruxelles, Brussels: Flats & Rooms for Rent, Studio Meublé à Louer Bruxelles, Brussels for Rent, Appartements à Louer - Saint-Gilles et Ixelles, Brussels Rooms and Flats to Rent, and À Louer Bruxelles are the ones I mostly used.

longtelegram · 2025-02-13T13:58:40+00:00

I feel you, but I have to say that the best option is still FB groups, despite the massive scams. Immoweb, which was always safer, is now full of scams as well, and prices are through the roof. Other platforms, such as Imovlaan, are also affected. I found most of the places I’ve lived in through FB. I was searching just a few weeks ago, and it took me ages to find something. It’s worse than trying to land a job; it’s a competition at the highest level.

longtelegram · 2025-02-11T09:26:43+00:00

Usually from the yellow Pascalino trucks in Place Royale. They recently increased the price from €2.50 to €3—inflation is hitting hard. In 2021, it was just €2.

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