As the new academic year has only recently started, and we can finally, after two long years, wander around the VUB again, we offer you an overview of the hot spots on our beloved green, sunny campus.
Text: Rieneke Lammens & Jarno Van Mulders
Image: Marit Galle, Jan Meeus & Jarno Van Mulders
Opinio
Besides the VUB restaurant, where you can eat a sandwich and a cheap hot meal, there are plenty of other spaces where you can treat yourself. If you don’t want to wait for ages during the lunch rush, there are plenty of options. One of these is Opinio, a cozy café where you can buy coffees, homemade soup, tea, and desserts! If you find yourself waiting for a professor who insisted you’d be on time, you can share your frustrations over a cup of coffee (or other) there.
Geert Lories
Bar Pilar
Another location to have a drink and meal is. Pilar is located at the base of the enormous white building next to the I-building at the student housing-side of campus. Mainly it functions as a cultural center: there are quite a few expositions, concerts and performances throughout the year, on top of the café with the coziest interior and most welcoming staff! If you want to organize an event at VUB but don’t feel like hassling the administration? You can always contact Bar Pilar via their website. Good to know: the café has great vegan options as well.
Bartenders Jan Meeus & Robin Schruers
Standaard Student Shop
An important place to remember: the Standaard Student Shop. You can pick up the books you bought online in this cute little shop – if you are willing to wait a couple of weeks, or months. Don’t forget to bring your student card and your confirmation email. Furthermore, you can buy different stationary and even the most amazing VUB gadgets. Do you want some flashy orange sweaters for your #OOTD on Instagram? Do not despair, the VUB has got you covered!
The university library
The library is one of the most important places if you plan on not only exploring Brussels and partying, but if you also want to get some studying done. Throughout the year, it is a very quiet place with all the books you may need – that is if they didn’t magically disappear from the shelves. Unfortunately, the library doesn’t carry any #Booktok books… If you don’t want to buy all of your expensive textbooks (which, let’s be honest, you’re not going to use anyway), this is the place to be. Remember: while this place might look pretty chill and empty, this completely changes when exams are lurking around the corner. You might have to navigate coffee breath and empty energy crans to own a place to sit and study… Don’t say we did not warn you.
Health care
The VUB provides their students with cheap health care. There is a doctors practice and abortion center next to Colruyt, and below the Schoofslaan/Triomflaan dorms. Do you need a covid test, a doctor’s note or are you simply feeling unwell and want to be taken care of? Don’t hesitate to visit the doctors practice, where kind doctors will gladly help you out. Is your period late, or are you experiencing an unwanted pregnancy? Then you can have an affordable termination of pregnancy at Dilemma, the VUB abortion center. You will be helped by the friendliest staff, who will not only support you physically, but also mentally. For more information, visit the center’s website.
BSG
No, the letters do not stand for ‘Big Sticky Garbage’, although it very well could have. Do you enjoy the combined smell of cigarettes, beer and urine? Have you always wanted to pee in a metal toilet? But above all: do you have clothes and shoes that you are not attached to and can simply be burned in the morning? Then BSG, after a two year clean-up, is absolutely the place to be. A word of warning: in case you wanted to enjoy lunch, do not go past here on your way to the Resto!
TD Tent
There is an iconic white tent where a lot of famous TD’s are held. It’s a place where you make the best memories… if you manage to remember them at least. You can have one of the most popular drinks at the VUB: the Alfredo. This drink is made from Ice Tea and apple jenever. The potion easily turns you into a real social butterfly. You can dance to (hopefully) good music, like the not-so-retro music on the retronight TD. Or make new friends while you’re waiting an hour to go to the toilet. Who knows who you might run into!
BBQ place
As soon as the sun touches down on campus, you will spot gatherings of students here. They laugh, share a meal; enjoy life. It’s the place to ignore pressing deadlines ruining your seemingly worry-free lives. Hey, you can’t work 24/7, so let’s cut us some slack! Get some cheap Cara (rouge) beer in Colruyt and enjoy well deserved time with friends! This location is also available for organizing barbecues – if you can make it through the VUB administration system that is.
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