Last week, one of our study abroad visits took us through the Port of Antwerp. The port is one of the largest in Europe, and driving through it made that easy to believe. We passed massive warehouses dedicated just to storing goods like sugar, coffee and fruit, and at points we could see enormous cargo ships lined up along the water. It was interesting to realize how many everyday products pass through a place like this before they ever reach stores or homes.

While that was interesting, my favorite part of the tour came when we stopped in Lillo, a small village tucked inside the port area. The village was originally founded in the 1500s to protect the port, and was later fortified in the 1800s during the Napoleonic Wars. After this, the village’s population of only around 100 remained flat, and its economy began to stagnate. That was until around the end of the 2010s, when Lillo experienced a second life from a completely unexpected source: Pokemon Go. For some reason, the village had unusually high spawn rates of rare Pokemon, causing hundreds of people to flood in. At one point, the crowds grew so large that a nighttime ban had to be enforced. This strange chapter of modern history was almost entirely responsible for bringing the village back to life.

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: Policies and Institutions of the European Union