A Blog about Education Abroad

Author: ckroon

  • Michael at Maastricht

    ARRIVAL AND THE MAASTRICHT EXPERIENCE:

    (7 September 2014)

    3 weeks ago I arrived at Schipol International airport in Amsterdam for the start of my exchange. The place is huge – I couldn’t actually believe how far I had to walk to go fetch my luggage after disembarking from the plane. I chatted to someone who was on the same flight as me and that made me feel slightly less nervous about everything which was to come. After collecting all my luggage I managed to find my way to the correct train to Maastricht.

    (more…)

  • Alma’s Belgium (Antwerpen) Experience

    DISCOVERING ANTWERP AND ME:
    I can admit freely and without shame that the first day I arrived in Antwerp, I was deeply overwhelmed. The train ride that I had taken from the Netherlands (I was late and almost missed my train, of course) was exhausting – In my rush to make the train I had accidentally jumped in first class and was then promptly kicked out by the conductor, only to find no access to second class. The result was a tired South African student sitting on her bags in the entrance of the train, watching the Netherlands fly by and slowly become Belgium without much formality.

    (more…)

  • Chandre in Hamburg

    Chandre in Hamburg

    Blog Entry 1: First Month in Hamburg, Germany
    So travelling to the other side of the world for this exchange was my first adventure! Having never left South Africa before I was filled with excitement as well as fear, in all honesty as much as I had been planning this exchange for a long time I had absolutely no idea what exactly I was about to walk into for the next 6 months of my life. After conquering several international airports and surviving a 23hour journey I finally arrived at Hamburg International Airport not fully feeling like I was actually on the other side of the world. I was greeted by my buddy and dropped off at my accommodation where I was introduced to all the other students I would be living with who were excited and shocked as well as confused by learning that I was South African. Some didn’t understand how I was white (yes, that question really does get asked) and from South Africa and others didn’t even know South Africa was a country itself but I guess one of the main reasons for exchange is to educate and promote your country to another. Even though there was much excitement I was dead tired and decided to go straight to bed so I could tackle Hamburg early the next morning.

    (more…)