Colby Gray, 24, grew up in a very rural and cooperation community in San Luis Obispo, California. It was only two hours to go to the University of California, Santa Cruz, who traveled that far for the first time.
It was the start of a new life for Gray – he didn’t know it yet.
“Not many people in my city had passports. Land.”
Gray lived on the campus at the start of his first year, but the COVID-19 Pandem completed its time there disturbed. Towards the second semester, Gray was forced to go home for about year. It was back in San Luis Obispo at this time that Gray studied abroad.
Gray studied in Copenhagen for six months. When the time was over, he did not want to go back to Santa Cruz.
“[Denmark] Really managed the pandemic and had a very high vaccination percentage, “he says.” I fell in love with it and decided that I wanted to do more. “
Gray completed a semester at sea before he finally went home to California.
“When I returned to Santa Cruz, it was to turn the culture shock for me,” he says. “There was no houses about it. The city was really not built for Studnts.”
Since the first visits of Europe moved in 2021 and in 2023, Gray has traveled to 20 different countries.
Colby Gray
Back in Santa Cruz, Gray van de Campus lived in an apartment with two Koom with three other housemates and worked as a study abroad. Gray’s share of the rent was $ 1,340 per month, according to documents assessed by CNBC.
“I paid a victim to live in Santa Cruz than I had paid to live abroad. I told myself that I couldn’t do it,” says Gray. ‘I knew after I was ready [with undergrad] I would apply for a master’s degree in Belgium. “
Gray says that his primary motivation to want to leave the United States is that life in the cities there never resonated with him – and he hated driving.
“That was one of the things I liked about life in Europe, I never felt that I needed a car to live,” he says.
Gray was also unhappy with the quality of the education he received at UC Santa Cruz, mainly because the costs. For the 2024-2025 school year, the average costs for in studies living on campus are $ 44,160. Gray’s Classeses were canceled for more than half a semester for a year and he still had to pay for the whole thing.
“It just didn’t seem like I got what I paid for, not even with a lot of federal and state financing,” says Gray. “I knew that there was a better system and a better way to follow a course. During my studies abroad I just worked a visa and studied as an international student for a sixth of the prize.”
“I decreased to continue my education, but I wanted to use that as a way to residence.”
Gray and friends go to the famous EDM festival, Tomorrowland.
Colby Gray
Gray decided to go for his master’s degree and to consider programs in the VK, such as at Cambridge University, the University of Oxford and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, but he could not justify the costs.
Gray led that to Leuven, Belgium, What seemed like the perfect choice. Leuven was built as a ’15-minte city ‘, a concept of city planning where the most daily need for shopping, health care and more can be achieved within a 15-minute walk. The concept gains grip in other Belgian cities such as Brussels and Mechelen and exists in large cities such as Paris, France, Barcelona, Spain and Melbourne, Australia.
In Leuven, cars are forbidden in the city center and it is easy – and is found – to get on the bike.
“I fell in love with it and thought it was great that Belgium was centrally located, so I could also travel,” he says “there are four different countries around me within a three -hour train ride, and that was Vry Unique.”
KU Leuven University in Belgium offers a program for diploma-seeking students Street for search permits. This enabled students or researchers to stay for a year and to work a limited as long as they obtain a master’s degree from a university in the country. It is a one -year program and the tweet is around 3,800 euros per year or $ 4,310 USD.
“However, as a student there are no better livelihood costs. There is nothing better economic than being in Europe. There is no reason to go here in a collection, so it’s just logical at this stage of my life,” he says.
Gray’s family came to visit him in Belgium and they made a trip to Italy together.
Colby Gray
Gray returned in Belgium with two checked bags and backpack and moved to a house with four cats with three other people. He paid 500 euros or $ 567 per months in rent: “It was fantastic. I mean, I paid the third of the price to get my own room.”
He immediately went up to build a life in Leuven.
“When I arrived here for the first time, it was Daunting. I was aware of the fact that I had no friends here and I was all alone,” he sees. “I think that was the first time I ever felt like this in my life. I worked very hard to make friends and make a community here.”
After graduating from KU Leuven, Gray took a bike ride walk Anmert to Basel, Switzerland.
Colby Gray
Gray Grauated Lastmmer and moved around the city 10 minutes by bike ride. He pays 420 euros per months in rent, including utilities. His current housing also offers subailetries and subvood.
Gray’s addition of monthly schedules include 236 euros in GRCeries, 154 euros when eating out, 11 euros in health insurance and medical visitors, 48 euros in transport, 50 euros for the gym, 30 euros on wellness, 20 euros on visa costs, 20 euros in canvas and 10 euros in subscriptions. Including his rent, Grey’s Total monthly costs are around $ 998 euros on a month or $ 1,132.
Gray has been living in Belgium for almost two years now and says he likes the work-life balance that he has found there.
“The community feels so strong here and I have a really great balance between my working life and my home,” he says. “It is such a slower pace of life here and it is really beautiful.”
Gray says he likes the work-private balance that he has been able to find since the United States leaves.
Colby Gray
Since the first visits of Europe moved in 2021 and in 2023, Gray has traveled to 20 different countries. His family and friends also have a visit there.
Gray’s family came to Belgium in 2024 and made a trip to Tuscany. I returned to the US for the first time in December.
Gray has left for seven months in his search Pern and he thinks of his next steps, including Second Master’s Degree and Traineeship in Brussels or Portugal.
The only thing that Gray knows for sure is that he is still ready to return to America.
“I lived in the US. I felt that there was a ticking clock in me where I had the staff, got a house, had a family and I think I now delayed a little and a little more smoke a little more,” “Hey.
Convertions from euros to USD were done using the Oanda conversion rate from 1 euro to 1.13 USD on 8 May 2025. All amouts are round to the nearest dollar.
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