A Blog about Education Abroad

Tag: Netherlands

  • Annelie Wessels at Tilburg University, The Netherlands

    Annelie Wessels at Tilburg University, The Netherlands

    Pre-departure

    At first, I felt overwhelmed by what seemed to be a lot of admin from Stellenbosch University’s side. Little did I know that was only the beginning. I can, however, say that all the admin was totally worth it. An useful tip: make sure to scan through your e-mails every day in case you received important information or a deadline. Especially be careful when applying for your visa that you are on time and have all the necessary documents. Again, I can say that all the admin was totally worth it and the Dutch Immigration office, especially, made life very easy for me. They guide you step by step and tell you exactly what procedure to follow. After I applied for my visa it only took 5 days before it was ready for collection. Super service. And a lot of super service was yet to come.

    Accommodation

    I initially tried to get into Verbs, a hostel like environment, where a lot of international students live and each floor share a kitchen and a bathroom.

    As there is limited space, I did not get in and had to search for private accommodation. I made use of the website Kamernet.nl. There are also a lot of other websites (which Tilburg University will provide you with) and Facebook groups like I*ESN Marketspace and Students looking for a room in Tilburg/Homeless students Tilburg. I was very lucky to find an opening in a flat with four other girls, very close to the university (1km away from most of my classes). It was important for me to stay close to the university, as I biked everywhere and it can be a bit inconvenient to bike in the winter as it rains often. The university also has a train station that is like 1km away, so if you live close to the centrum, you can use the train or even the bus. There are various bus stops all over the city and one on campus. I preferred to pay a little more on rent and live closer and save on transport. My rent was €500 per month, where Verbs is much cheaper. There are also places like CobbenCampus where you can rent studios, but that costs are in the range of €900 per month. I would say you can get a decent room for €350 – €400. Make sure to get a rental agreement or contract as you would need it to register at the town council (Tilburg Gemeente).

    Registration and Orientation (Top Week)

    Tilburg University has a day specially set out for international students to register. Not much happens on that day, but, if you can attend it, it is very useful to do so. The university arranged with the city council to be present, so you can make an appointment to get your residence permit. The bank were also there for you to make an appointment to open a bank account. Super convenient.

    After that, TOP week follows. It is like orientation week at Stellenbosch where the international students get divided into groups with mentors and get to do a lot of fun things during the week. I made my best friends during TOP week. I would highly recommend.

    Covid-19

    Our classes got cancelled in middle March and we immediately switched over to online teaching. All our classes and presentations were done online. Except for our March exams that were moved to June, we did not lose any classes and our schedules continued as normal. My exam finished two weeks later than planned, but luckily we could finish the semester more or less in time.

    The lecturers were all very helpful and understanding and made a lot of effort to make the transition as easy as possible. It was thus very important to have a stable internet connection and a decent laptop (with a webcam) as all our classes, presentations and tests were done from home. Our exams were done through Test Vision or Proctorio.

    Coming back

    I extended my time in Tilburg with a month. I asked my landlord for two extra weeks and spent the other two weeks either travelling or with friends. I initially struggled to get a flight through the embassy or SAA, but I found one with KLM. Their service was extremely quick and effective and I would recommend flying with them (direct). I also applied for self-quarantine so that I could quarantine at home and not at a government facility.

    General

    I cannot express enough how much I enjoyed my exchange. In spite of Covid-19, I had the best six months of my university career. I tried to stay positive during the difficult times and just embraced everything.

    I made some really good friends (both international and Dutch). I would recommend for you to join a club or an organisation. I play table tennis, so I joined the table tennis team of the university and we played league matches and trained every week. That was super fun.

    I also joined a church (Ontmoetingskerk) where I joined their international meeting group, Connect. There I made some Dutch friends as well as met a lot of international students.

    I think it is important to take part, does not matter where, as long as you are willing to get out of your comfort zone, meet new people and experience new cultures, ideas and adventures.

    Although Tilburg is not a typical Dutch city, it is a student and family city with a lot of international students and you will easily feel at home. Small enough for you to experience all parts of it and find your place, but big enough to have a lot of fun places, shops, bars, restaurants and parks.

    I made use of the public transport in the Netherlands (with a weekend vrij subscription on my OV-chipcard) and were able to see more than 20 Dutch towns. I also went to Bratislava (Slovakia), Prague (Czech), Vienna and Salzburg (Austria), Zurich and Luzern (Switzerland) and Frankfurt and Cologne (Germany). I think if it wasn’t for Covid-19, I would have travelled more, but I am happy with what I did in the time that I had. Also make sure to try some Dutch cuisine when you are over there. They might surprise you.

    I would go back in a heartbeat.

  • Ryan at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Ryan at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Adventures in Amsterdam

    I have recently returned from a life changing journey on my six month exchange at the Economics and Business department of the prestigious University of Amsterdam where I was fortunate enough to take some elective modules in the Masters of Financial Risk Management program. I can honestly say that travel is the one thing you can buy that helps you to grow. Here are some of my thoughts about the life changing adventure I went on. (more…)

  • Jeanne at Maastricht University, the Netherlands

    Jeanne at Maastricht University, the Netherlands

    Pre-departure:

    Going abroad can be very exciting but also overwhelming. However, preparation and planning can help reduce any uncertainties that you might face. Try to prepare everything that you can from this side, but do not worry if you don’t have everything figured out before you leave for your exchange semester – you will learn a lot while you are there and that is part of the experience. Some important things to have sorted out are your visa, your accommodation, flight tickets, insurance and the subjects you want to take. Maastricht University does the visa application on your behalf. They will communicate to you which documents you must send to them and they will then apply for your visa. They will inform you once your visa has been approved and you then need to make an appointment at the Dutch Embassy to collect your visa. Applying for your visa is therefore not difficult and the university makes sure to start with the process early enough to ensure that your visa arrives in time before you leave. Finding accommodation is also an easy process. One can go to Maastricht Housing’s website to see what options they have available. There you can see pictures, prices and locations of the different accommodation options, and you can book a room through the site. Flight tickets are also not complicated to sort out. I chose a direct flight with KLM from Cape Town to Amsterdam. Book your tickets in advance since they are much cheaper than booking it two months before you leave. I would recommend having medical insurance for the duration of your stay. This is just to give you peace of mind should something happen – hospitals and doctors are very expensive in Europe. I arranged my medical insurance through a travel agent that gave us advice on what the best cover option is. Once I arrived in Maastricht the Dutch Bank that I used while there, ING, recommended that I get insurance for any accidents and property damage. This insurance was cheap and since you will be cycling a lot, it is good to be covered against any accidents that might happen while you are cycling around.

    Maastricht University has a lot of information available to exchange students on the SBE page. You go to the exchange page and there you can find information about the university calendar, accommodation, insurance, where to hire a bike, subjects, etc. This is the link: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/education/exchange/sbe. Most important is that you find course information through their course data base. Here you have the list of courses you can choose from, their descriptions and their prerequisites. This was very helpful in selecting courses. Make sure to register for your subjects before the deadline. Maastricht will inform you about the deadline.

    If you have these things sorted before you leave, you will be more than prepared when you arrive there. The rest of the things such as creating a bank account, getting a bike and university related stuff will be sorted out as you arrive. The university is very helpful and organised.

    Experience at the Host University:

    Jeanne with classmates sightseeing
    Jeanne with classmates sightseeing

    Maastricht University’s business school, SBE, is a triple accredited school. The way of teaching is very different from Stellenbosch since they make use of something called PBL – problem based learning. This means that learning takes place through problem solving and discussion of problems. Classes take the form of tutorial sessions where there are a maximum of 15 students in one tutorial group. Some subjects, for example subjects that involve mathematics, may combine normal lectures as we know it with these tut classes, but most subjects only make use of the tut classes. In these classes there is a tutor that facilitates the session and ensures that everything is covered, but the students lead the discussion. This means that you have to prepare for every class and actively participate in each class by asking questions and contributing to the discussions. Sometimes you are divided in groups and each group then gets a chance to present a section of the work. Giving presentations is the norm at SBE. The PBL system definitely challenged me in a lot of ways, but I learned so much. Getting out of my comfort zone and having to contribute and participate in classes helped me to understand the content of the work better and also delve deeper than just the textbook theory.

    At Maastricht University the semester is divided into three periods – period 1, 2 and 3. In the first period you have two subjects and at the end of the period there is a week of exams and you complete the two subjects. In the next period, period two, you have another two subjects and also write exams at the end of the period. Period three is a skills period where you have one subject for two weeks. This subject is a skills subject, for example presentations skills, interview skills, excel for finance, etc. Although the courses are intensive, it is nice to only have two subjects at a time and not six as we are used to.

    Maastricht is a beautiful city. There are a lot of cafes, restaurants and shops. Getting around is very easy, since you can use your bike or the bus. Maastricht’s location is also ideal for traveling since it is very close to both the Belgium and Germany borders. I spent a lot of time exploring the city itself, as well as nearby cities. Doing day trips to other cities is easy with the trains that are available. Understanding the Dutch language was not a problem for me since my home language is Afrikaans, which is very close to Dutch. Most of the people can speak English. Furthermore, in Maastricht you will not only encounter Dutch people, since the university is a very international university and people from all nationalities fill the streets of Maastricht. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the city and would choose Maastricht again if I could.

    Jeanne sightseeing in the city
    Jeanne sightseeing in the city

    Returning to Stellenbosch:

    I was excited to return to Stellenbosch. The exchange was a wonderful experience, but after five months it was time to come home to my family and friends. Coming back and getting into routine in Stellenbosch was not a challenge for me. It was nice to come back and share my experiences and stories with my friends. It was also nice to hear the stories of my fellow International Business students’ exchange experience. I am excited to apply the things I learned in Maastricht to my studies at Stellenbosch. I love the student life of Stellenbosch and am looking forward to this year.

    Something that I realised is that South Africa is not as behind with certain things as most people think. For example, our awareness of waste and sustainable living is higher in certain areas, and Stellenbosch’s facilities are just as good as Maastricht’s facilities. However, we still have a long way to go with transport infrastructure and we can learn a lot from the Dutch system. Another thing is that the cost of living is much lower in South Africa than in Europe – it is very expensive over there. So another plus point on returning to South Africa is that everything is much more affordable.

    I have definitely grown a lot while being abroad and it is an experience I will never forget. I will also encourage students to go abroad if they have the opportunity to do so. Although I loved the experience, for now I am planning to stay in Stellenbosch and complete my studies here. In the future, I might go abroad to work for a year.