In the United States, when you order a coffee, you usually get a 64-ounce disposable container to go.

In Belgium, you get a ceramic cup about one-tenth the size and are expected to sit around and drink it for hours.

A minor detail, yet it provides crucial insight into a European culture that is more laid back and extremely different than American society. From the moment I arrived in Brussels, Belgium, to study abroad, I knew my life would change.

But never like this.

I expected not being able to have Instant Messenger chiming away while I planned evening gatherings with friends or access to a computer at 4 a.m. to finish a next-day paper. But, I didn't know that I'd have to pay the equivalent of $3-per-hour for access at an Internet café, or that I'd have to use one of three unreliable campus computer labs.

Well-accustomed to American values of speed and efficiency, I assumed registering for classes would be mostly electronic.

After sitting in a classroom with nearly 200 other students for three hours as one adviser wrote students' course selections by hand, I quickly discovered otherwise.

Transportation to classes can also be undependable.

Recently, Brussels got one of its first snowfalls of the year. The metros and tram systems were delayed for hours. Some professors didn't show up to class.

How much did it snow? Not three feet, but two inches.

And of course, living in a predominantly French-speaking city and attending classes on a Dutch-speaking campus has added a new, amusing dimension to life. Pedestrian crosswalk signs don't have symbols printed on them. Instead they have 26-letter words.

"Voetgangersoversteekplaats," the signs read.

Even daily activities are somewhat frustrating. After 15 minutes of futzing with the shower hose, I realized that there is no wall attachment. You simply sit on the floor while bathing. And be sure not to take a long time, as utilities are at least four times as much here as they are at home.

Suddenly, those grungy dorm showers with water pressure resembling that of a fire hose, rather than a bathing apparatus, don't seem so bad.

Adjusting to European culture hasn't been easy. But it's also been rewarding.

My initial frustrations are dwindling and are instead making room for me to see the positive side of studying abroad.

When I ask a classmate where he or she is from, the response is no longer, "outside Pittsburgh" or "outside Philly." Now, it may be: "Hungary" or "Russia."

And the farms and wafting smell of cow manure that I was so accustomed to at Penn State have been replaced by prestigious institutions like the European Union and United Nations.

And forget those 64-ounce cups of coffee, too.

Brussels is the beer capital of the world.