Bart De Wever took a walk in Antwerp with his family on Saturday evening. Katrien is in the front left of the photo. — © Belga, RR
–
Katrien De Wever (19), the eldest daughter of Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA), will exchange our country for the US for a year. “I’ve never been able to study abroad myself,” says Bart De Wever. “I think it’s very nice that my daughter will get that chance and take a year of lessons in New York.”
–
On Saturday evening, the De Wever family made the provisional last walk in Antwerp with full occupancy. A day later, Katrien De Wever was waved goodbye at Zaventem. “Given the time difference, she will land in New York around lunchtime,” says Bart De Wever.
–© RR
–
Little babies grow up and that means they leave the nest. “It is of course a bit of a swallow to see your daughter leave for the other side of the world. It could also have been a little closer to home. But, this is a fantastic experience for Katrien. We are happy to be able to give her this.”
Katrien De Wever will study at the international language education agency Education First. “She gets an intensive language immersion there and the intention is that by the end of that year she will master English as well as a native speaker. Take it from me that it is a tough course”, says Bart De Wever.
sorry
Bart De Wever himself would have liked to study abroad for a while. “But my parents couldn’t afford that and when I studied in Leuven I missed the opportunity to take lessons in Heidelberg for a while. I still regret it.”
Katrien De Wever ends up in a typical American campus. “And she has to travel forty minutes to get to downtown New York. Say from Kapellen to the center of Antwerp.”
The De Wever family has not yet planned a visit to their daughter. “You can go into the country to work and study. But a city trip from Belgium is still out of the question due to corona. Oh well, a year is over in no time.”
–© RR
–
(pvdp)
— .
