"We get all kinds of questions, but most of them are very practical, like how to get proper insurance, how to open a bank account - or where to buy a mattress," says Eva Verrvecken of the International Relations Office. The university's Erasmus Student Network, led by Belgian students, helps Erasmus exchange students integrate by organising all kinds of activities, such as "Ice Breaker Week" at the beginning of each semester.

EAT
Grabbing a quick bite for lunch in the university's City Campus area is very easy, as every street is lined with sandwich bars. But beware of long queues during the lunch hour if you're pressed for time.

The student cafeteria at the university offers very good and cheap meals, though chances are great you'll eventually be seduced by one of the many frituren, where you typically order a portion of French fries accompanied by some version of deep-fried meat and a dollop of strange sauce.

Other options worth checking out are Pannacotta (7 Lange Klarenstraat), which serves breakfast from 8.00 and lunch from 11.00. If you get hooked on their organic bread or fair-trade coffee, you can buy the former in their bakery and get the latter to go all afternoon. You can also get your coffee fix at Vandoag is't (Flemish dialect for "It's today"), where you can also take it away, but where it's also fun to hang out and read magazines.

Though students typically don't go out to eat at night very often, preferring to save money and cook at their student residence, Antwerp offers plenty of places where the food is good and prices are low. Da Giovanni (8 Jan Blomstraat) in the old city centre is an excellent example of this: the pizzas are huge and, if you flash your student card, you get an additional 10% discount. In any case, it pays to ask for student discounts at restaurants in the city - and lots of other places, too.

"I cook a lot, because it's expensive to go out to eat. But the problem is I have a frituur across the street, so I buy a lot of fried food, too. It's like you buy something to cook, and then beside it you have fries." - Gustav Mellstig (Sweden)

DRINK
To make meeting new and interesting people easier, there's no better lubricant than Belgian beer. Ask any student in Antwerp, and they'll point you in the direction of either Stadswaag or Ossenmarkt, two of the busiest squares in town after dark. In Stadswaag, discover new cocktails at La Dolce Vita (n°11), enter beer contests at Markies de Sade (n°17) or dance the night away at Klimax (n°19). During warm weather (it will come around next May), the square is filled with terraces, but even in winter, this place is always buzzing with activity at night.

Ossenmarkt is even closer to the university and is home to the snug Kassa 4 (n°21), hip Barracuda (n°1) and noisy De Salamander (2 Lange Sint-Annastraat). Two other very popular student cafés are Hill Diar (118 Italiëlei) and De Prof (51 Vekestraat). Many students start their evening out in the afternoon, first snacking on a croque monsieur, then drinking beer as apéritif, dinner and dessert. A typical Wednesday or Thursday night at these bars ends well past dawn the next day. Don't forget to go to class.

"The beer here is really, really cheap compared to Madrid, so I drink beer all the time!"
- Analìa Plaza (Spain)

GOING OUT
If you're looking to shake your groove thang, you have many, many options in Antwerp. The most popular nightclub at the moment is Noxx (Straatsburgdok, 3 Noordkaai), which is situated near mega cinema complex Metropolis, and is only a short bus ride from the city centre. Club-going in Antwerp entails a bit of dressing up, so don't waste time standing in line for 30 minutes if you're wearing sneakers: you most likely won't get in.

Other student favourites are Café d'Anvers (15 Verversrui), interestingly located in the city's red light district, and Café Local (25 Waalse Kaai) more down south, where salsa music takes over at least once a week.

But the best parties take place behind closed doors, in someone's dorm or living room. Ask around to find out who the biggest party animals are: theirs is probably a dorm you'll want to hang out at. Remember, most Belgians who live and study in Antwerp leave for their parental home at weekends, so Saturday nights tend to be calmer than an average weeknight.

"Often we go meet other people at the Ossenmarkt, and then we throw a party in someone's kitchen. I'm not used to this, but here you can just walk into a night shop and buy beer, which you can't do in Sweden."
- Gustav Mellstig

FREE TIME
Antwerp is, if you didn't know it by now, the fashion capital of Belgium. Even just an hour of free time in your schedule allows you to take advantage of what Antwerp has to offer in clothes. The Meir is your typical high street lined with chain stores, and conveniently located very close to the university. But make sure to check out the surrounding streets as well to discover what Belgian fashion is really about: Kammenstraat, Nationalestraat, Kloosterstraat and Volkstraat are the street names to remember for both quirky vintage stores and high-end, avant-garde fashion boutiques.

As far as culture goes, Antwerp has a wonderful Museum of Fine Arts (Leopold Dewaeleplaats), and on the Waalse Kaai you'll find both the Photo Museum (n°47) and the Museum of Modern Art (entrance at 32 Leuvenstraat), both very much worth seeing. Want to catch a movie? UGC (17 Van Ertbornstraat) and Metropolis (394 Groenendaallaan) have special prices for students and show virtually every blockbuster. For indie features, head over to the small, charming Cartoon's (4 Kaasstraat) in the old city centre.

"The problem with shopping here is that everything closes really early. So if you wake up at 14.00, you can't relax because everything is closed at 18.00!" - Analìa Plaza