Greetings, dear reader, and welcome to this WegWijzer. Because of some recent developments in the Flemish media-landscape, this WegWijzer will be about Bart De Pauw. Many of you have probably never heard of him and might be wondering who he is, what he does or why on earth you should care about him. Those who have heard about him (aka those who saw a newspaper or any Belgian website in the last 4 days) are probably asking themselves the same questions. I’m here to answer those questions with a mediocre amount of quality, detail and grace. Bart De Pauw is a Flemish actor, producer, tv-host, scriptwriter, and about any other profession related to television you can come up with. Saying he’s a pretty big deal in Flanders would be an understatement. Recently, he became the item of controversy when he announced that the VRT, the Flemish public broadcast, had broken all ties with him and his production company due to internal complaints of professional misconduct of a sexual nature. Because De Pauw is well loved with the audience, because the complaints are allegedly filed by multiple known actresses but are alledgedly not about any physical boundary crossing behaviour and because the decision by the VRT is very sudden, it has as said generated a lot of controversy and the opinions about both the actions of him and VRT are split. Anyways, of to the activities.
Monday, there are no activities.
Tuesday from 10am until 1pm there is a singing convent in the Raadzaal of the HIW (room 01.16). It’s a great opportunity for those who will come to the cantus on Thursday to practice their voice, for those who have never been to a cantus to learn the rules, habits and songs and for every member of NFK to hear the new NFK-song for the first time. Be there, is the message! In the evening, there’s the fakbar from 9pm until the early hours in the M-café.
Wednesday, NFK organizes a debate about the role of nationalistic sentiment in a liberal democracy. A theme that’s apparently still relevant. I wouldn’t know, because the Flemish media doesn’t seem to care about Catalonia or Donald Trump now that Bart De Pauw has been accused. You know things are serious when the tweets of Donald Trump are not front page news anymore. Anyways, the debate starts at 8.15pm in the Kardinaal Mercierzaal (HIW 01.01). Afterwarts, you can keep discussing during the free reception.
Thursday, NFK’s first cantus of the year will take place. This event will happen in the room above café Ambiorix (Old Market), from 8pm until about midnight. If you want to participate, you can sign up in the list of the facebook event or sent an email to feest@nfk.be. Drinking beer during the cantus will cost you 13 euro, drinking water will cost you 5 euros.
On Friday, they will be a logic course organized by NFK. The course is free and obviousely not mandatory. It’s primarily targeted at Dutch students but feel free to hop in if you have a question. As far as I know, the English of the tutor is at least halfway decent. The course is meant for first year students or those who have to retake the subject . This session will be about syllogisms. It will take place from 11am until 1pm at Aula B (room 00.14). Furthermore, there is like always the breadmeal on Friday from 12pm until 2pm in the lounge , where you can eat all the bread you want for one and a half euro in company that’s almost nice sometimes.
On Saturday, NFK organizes a trip to Bruges. We will meet at 8am in front of the train station in Leuven, from where we will travel to Bruges in group. There’s a tour along the most important historic buildings planned, as well as some free time to visit and discover the city on your own. Around 5.30pm, we will travel back to Leuven. If you have any questions, you can send an email to international@nfk.be.
So, besides anything concerning Bart De Pauw, that was all the relevant news for this week. Goodbye, peace, and until next time, my dearest reader.