750 Kilometres to the Biotechnical Faculty: Belgian Student Cycles to Ljubljana for Erasmus

When students set off on an Erasmus exchange, they usually think first about courses, accommodation, a new country, and life in a different environment. Josephine de Brouwer from Brussels added something more to her exchange: a real adventure. A third-year undergraduate bioengineering student in Brussels, she arrived at the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana by a route few students choose — by bicycle.

Josephine was interviewed by Katarina Rihtaršič, Head of the International Office at the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana.

Josephine comes from Belgium and lives in Brussels. What drew her to Ljubljana, in addition to the study programme, was nature. As she explains, her first choice for Erasmus was Canada, but since she was not selected, she decided on Ljubljana instead. She was convinced by the natural surroundings, the mountains, and the programme offered by the university.

But choosing Slovenia was only the beginning of the story. Josephine wanted her arrival for the exchange to be something special as well. The idea of long-distance cycling was not entirely foreign to her. She has cycled a great deal since childhood, and during the summers her family often went on multi-day cycling trips, camping and travelling from place to place. Her love of cycling and movement has therefore been with her for a long time, but this challenge was still something different.

“Maybe because I couldn’t go to Canada, I told myself I had to do something a little crazy for Ljubljana,” she said. As she looked into sustainable travel options within the Erasmus exchange, she first considered travelling by train. Then an even bolder idea came to mind: why not go by bicycle? “It’s even greener, and it turns going on Erasmus into a big adventure.”

She did not begin the journey entirely alone. For the first three days, a friend accompanied her, cycling with her from Brussels to somewhere in Germany, before returning home by train. Josephine then continued on her own. That moment — when she first found herself alone on the road — became one of the more defining parts of the journey. She admits that she wondered why she had decided to take on such a challenge. But the doubt did not last long. Nature, the feeling of freedom, and the experience itself took over. “I saw the sun, it was a bit cloudy, but I told myself I was doing this for nature and for the experience.”

She planned her route with the help of the Komoot app, which she used to map out the journey and check where cycling was possible and where it made more sense to travel by train. She did not cycle across the Alps, for example, but instead took the train from Vienna to Kranj, and then completed the last stretch — around 30 kilometres — by bicycle to Ljubljana. In total, she covered around 750 kilometres by bike and approximately the same distance by train.

Her plan was careful, though not rigid. In advance, she roughly determined how many kilometres she would cycle each day, generally no more than 100, and in which town she would spend the night. Even so, the trip still left room for spontaneity. For overnight stays, she used the Warm Showers app, designed for bicycle travellers. Through it, she found hosts who offered her a place to sleep, a warm shower, and often dinner as well. “Each time, I slept at someone’s house,” she said. She would usually look for hosts one or two days in advance — and she always found someone willing to take her in.

Meeting people along the way became one of the most valuable parts of the journey. Among her most memorable experiences was an evening in Passau, on the border between Germany and Austria, where she stayed at a professor’s home. That evening, he invited her to join a gathering with his international students. “It was really fun. Everyone was surprised that I was staying at a professor’s house,” she laughed.

The weather was another challenge. She did not set off in spring or summer, as is more common for this kind of cycling trip, but in winter. Fortunately, temperatures were not too harsh. They ranged between five and ten degrees Celsius, so she did not feel too cold while cycling. Rain proved to be the greater challenge. There were many rainy days, but she was prepared, equipped with rain trousers and a jacket. As she explains, she hardly noticed being wet while riding — the harder part came in the evening, when she had to dry and clean muddy clothes and equipment before arriving at her hosts’ homes.

Although she did not prepare physically in any special way, she was helped by the fact that she has always been active. She runs a lot, and in Brussels she already uses her bike for everyday errands and getting to university. Even after arriving in Ljubljana, she stayed loyal to that way of moving around. She cycles to the faculty and soon after arriving also completed a cycling tour of around 60 kilometres in the surroundings of Ljubljana. She says she is now tempted by more demanding routes and climbs, because she is drawn to the views that mountain roads offer.

On one leg of the journey, she also set herself a particularly demanding goal: in a single day, she cycled around 140 kilometres so that she could arrive in Vienna a day earlier and enjoy a full day visiting the city. It was a difficult day, but she felt the effort was worth it. Moments like these show that her journey was not simply about getting from point A to point B, but about thoughtfully balancing effort, curiosity, and the joy of discovery.

When asked whether she would do something like this again, her answer is yes. Since she bought a new bicycle just before leaving, she believes she will use it for many similar adventures. At first, she thought she would return from Slovenia by train, but now that her courses and exams finish already at the beginning of June, she is considering taking extra time to travel — and perhaps even cycling back home.

Her story is more than just an interesting anecdote about arriving for Erasmus. It is a story about independence, self-confidence, sustainable thinking, and openness to the world. At the end of the interview, she was asked to describe her journey in three words. She chose: adventurous, meeting new people, and happiness.

And perhaps those three words capture best the true value of her journey: that a study exchange can become much more than simply moving to another city. It can become an experience that moves a person — both literally and personally.

We would like to emphasize that it was the #green Erasmus priority that encouraged Josephine to choose this mode of travel. 

Photo source: Josephine de Brouwer