First month as an EUR student
Throughout your life you are prepared for your first week at university. Or, during your Bachelor or Master program you are extensively planning for going on exchange. These students tell us about their first month at the EUR and Rotterdam.
First month as an EUR student (kopie 1)
Throughout your life you are prepared for your first week at university. Or, during your Bachelor or Master program you are extensively planning for going on exchange. These students tell us about their first month at the EUR and Rotterdam.
Frank Holleman (20), first year IBCoM (half German/half Dutch)
“My first month at Erasmus has been very good! Good, as in I’m meeting awesome people and loving the city of Rotterdam. Good, as in I made the right decision about what to study. All in all, everything turned out the way I hoped or better and I’m very excited for the rest of the year.
There are two things that I especially like about my student life so far. Firstly, if you had told high school-Frank how motivated university-Frank is about studying, he would have declared you crazy. It’s just the way classes are structured and what they are about, that I actually like school. Secondly, I absolutely love having classmates from a couple dozen different countries! It’s such a humbling and enriching environment.
However, the worst thing is that I don’t have enough time to hang out more with my classmates, but that’s only because I’m so busy with doing other fun stuff! Also, if I could re-do my first month I would definitely buy a bike and especially, rain pants before coming to Rotterdam.”
Nastia Kalimanova (19) Exchange student at ESE (from Russia)
“My first month at the Erasmus University was better than I could have ever imagined. I’ve always wanted to study abroad and this exchange program gave me an opportunity to do so. Never before have I met that many people literally from all over the world in just one month. For me it is very surprising though to have only two classes a week. I am used to going to the university every day in Moscow and sometimes even on Saturdays.
I also really appreciate everything that the EUR has done for the international students to make us feel comfortable: a boat trip, an official welcoming evening with greetings from the Rector and the Dean, a traditional Dutch buffet to try and of course some parties. It feels so great to understand that you’re really welcomed here.
However, preparation before coming to the Erasmus University for me was quite long. I had to pass an English test, to arrange everything with my home university, and since my country is not a part of the EU I had to collect a lot of documents for the visa and the residence permit. Nevertheless, I managed and I highly value this opportunity to study at the EUR.”
Dunya Ressang (18) first year IBCoM (from The Netherlands)
“My first month was wonderful! I am having such a great time. I got into the ESN party committee and partied a lot. I met so many people and already had so many new experiences! It’s an amazing feeling to have so much freedom. I can actually do everything I want right now, but of course, I have to deal with the consequences too. But because of that, I have a higher sense of responsibility now. The best thing so far are the people I have met. I am very international orientated and have met a lot of different people. I like to travel and can exchange numerous stories about travelling with them.
However, continuously having a flat tire is not so great! Everybody wants to hop on your back because they do not have a bike. This is the third time I had to take my bike to the bike shop! Also, because I lived in Belgium for 12 years, I had to arrange everything again here. That was really stressful.
I would recommend new student to take it a bit more slowly in their first month. It’s all very new, very exciting and very tiring. I saw a picture on the Internet a few years ago. It said: ”study, social life and sleep. Pick two” and it’s really true. You can’t have all three! I tried it!” NdB
