In our intensive French course we learnt a lot about the history of Belgium. This class taught me a lot because I honestly didn't know much about the country. One of the main things I learnt was that the country is sort of separated into two sections: the French part and the Dutch part. These two sections are referred to as the Wallonia section (French-speaking)  and the Flanders section (Dutch-speaking). These two parts do not get along and are like two completely different countries. As a matter of fact, they have two different governments. Which makes governing the country a lot more difficult. 

One interesting thing about these two sections is that Brussels, the capital, is located in the Flanders part. Even though the city is officially bilingual, most people speak French there. 

There are three national languages in Belgium; Dutch, French and German. There is also separate governments for each language. 

So in total, there are about 5 different governments in Belgium. As you can tell, trying to get anything done for the country would be ridiculously difficult. 

This might be one of the reasons why Belgium didn't have a president or other governing leader for a couple of years. They do have a king , King Albert II, but he has limited power. 

Before this course, I had no idea that Belgium government was this complex. I found all this information very interesting. 

I imagine that if the government was like this in the states, it would be total chaos. Nothing would get done because people would have to jump through many many hoops to do something. I could not even imagine not having a president. Honestly, I'm surprised the country isn't more messy than it is. 

This video explains all this in a way that not only makes it easy to understand but is also very entertaining: