Even though, Belgium is just around the corner, one hour by plane, I was still exciting to visit a new country, I had never visited before. I arrived a few days in advance before my internship started in Leuven and did two days of couchsurfing for the first time. Arrived at the Brussels airport I did not have any difficulties to find my way to Leuven. Everything was written in Dutch, French, German and English. Language wise it should not be a challenge coming from Switzerland to Belgium. Doing the first days couchsurfing turned out to be a very good opportunity for me. I got to meet local PhD students who introduced me to the Belgium culture and the city of Leuven. After tow days I knew already enough to have a very smooth start on Monday into my internship. Things you need to know when you come to Leuven: - Get yourself a bike for 15 Euro a month - Don’t trust the busses and if you plan to use one, download the app and get your bus ticket for a cheap price (to be honest the buses suck!) - Get yourself a train card for a month! The locals will tell you that the train system does not work properly but I only made good experiences. Just keep in mind when you are late that the doors of the train close earlier than the actual departure time. - People are super nice, if you should get lost just ask someone for help Belgium is easy to travel around as it is also in Switzerland (just with cheaper train prices). You only need one weekend and you can already visit a lot of places. And also, it’s easy to just go during the weekday to a neighbour city. If you have enough of Belgium, you can also just pass the border and visit Germany or Holland. BeMSA did a really good job. Everything was good organized, and I could always contact my contact person when I had questions. They organized also a lot of events during the week unfortunately I did attend only a few of the events but it was good to know that there is the possibility to attend and meet new exchange students if I wanted. Otherwise the city itself offered also a lot of activities to attend and meet new people. My internship   I took part at SCORE, so my internship took place in a lab. My lab was at the department for oncology  at Mrs An Coemans research group who works on ovarian cancer. The great part about research is  that it is always very international, so people are open minded and its easy to become a part of the  team. It just took me a few minutes to be part of the team. Research has its own standards and  methods that are quiet the same it easy to find your way around in a new environment. What  changes is, just the way people work. Everyone has their own technique to work and it is sometimes  a bit “annoying” to have to adapt to the different ways every supervisor shows you. Everyone thinks  that their way of working is the best, so with each supervisor you need to adapt their way of working.  My internship offered me a good opportunity to apply some protocols and learn new techniques. I  had a lot time to learn and to practice. At the end of this internship I can say with confidence that I  am now able to apply certain protocols myself without a supervisor.   Unfortunately, I also had a lot of free time, which was at the beginning good, but I was not able to  work efficient. Also, that I was not allowed to work with mice was a pity, since this lab works a lot with mice and it could have been a huge advantage for me, if I already had my certificate to work  with mice. What I think is also a bit unfortunate about the SCORE exchanges is that they are really  short, so there is also no time to be part of a publication. It would be a huge advantage to be able  also to be part of a publication. I really think that IFMSA—SCORE needs to solve this issue. Next to   the gained experience a publication could be a huge advantage for medical student who aims to do  research in the future.   In general, I would say that my whole internship experience was good. I had very luck with my  accommodation, it was very close to the centre and I had everything that I needed. The internship  was the only thing where I see a potential to increase the experience. What really annoyed me was  the fact that within the lab they spoke a lot in Dutch, which I could not understand. When I asked  them something, they always changed to English but just out of respect I would have preferred them  talking in English from the beginning on.  I will not do a second SCORE internship since I have the impression, I have now enough lab  experience. I would consider attending one when I am also sure that I can be part of a publication  otherwise I don’t see any reason to do a second SCORE internship. In my 5th or 6th year of studies I  can imagine myself attending a SCOPE to gain some clinical experience during my last years.