Page 65 - A Life - my Live - my path
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Higher education – emotional moment !
the school - located on Rue Royale, in the centre of Brussels,
near the Congress Column - we had a special bus.
I would leave Piéton on Sunday evening and return on
Friday evening. I helped my parents as much as I could. In
general, I spent Friday and Saturday nights at the café, while
my parents were on duty all other days of the week. The café
was never closed.
In Brussels, I felt independent, I was on my own, the
courses were unregulated, nobody took attendance. I had a
bit of pocket money for a meal and a movie ticket. My life
was not unpleasant.
As soon as the school year started, around 15 September,
the hazing period began. I had decided to be hazed and to
take part in all the pre-hazing activities. It's a once-in-a-
lifetime experience, so I had to do it. I wanted to have my
quill, the symbol of hazed students. I was a dirty rookie, I
was hazed, I got my quill, and I became a stubble that could
haze other dirty rookies.
When a dirty rookie wanted to ask a stubble for a beer, for
example, he was forced to look down and recite the
following words : " O respectable and respected, dreaded
and feared, venerated and revered, O celestial stubble of
ISNA may I have a beer." The first answer was always:
"No."
These are very fond memories of my life.
In the heat of the moment, lacking experience, this was at
the expense of our studies. After this six-week period, we
plunged back into our studies, but for the Brussels schools,
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