{"id":2451,"date":"2016-09-23T11:41:57","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T09:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=58638"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:09","slug":"a-day-in-the-life-of-a-first-year-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/09\/23\/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-first-year-student\/","title":{"rendered":"A day in the life of a first-year student"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSanne van der Most<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Thousands of new students enrolled in a Bachelor programme at EUR this year. Last week, they embarked on this new chapter in their lives \u2013 some with shaky legs, others without a care in the world. The 17-year-old Criminology student Eline Rodenburg from Nieuw-Lekkerland is somewhere in between. EM tagged along with her for the day.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a first for everything: sitting your finals, going on holiday without your parents, choosing a study programme and taking part in Eurekaweek. Unfortunately, Eline had to miss out on the latter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only recently heard that I had drawn a winning lot for Criminology. As a result, I registered too late for Eurekaweek. Which is a shame \u2013 but it isn\u2019t a disaster or anything. I live very close to Rotterdam, and I regularly visit it for a day of shopping. So I more or less know my way around the city already.\u201d She doesn\u2019t know the people here, though. \u201cExcept for one boy from secondary school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nice and cheap<\/h3>

That\u2019s why Eline\u2019s very first lecture on Monday promises to be quite exciting. At the crack of dawn, she\u2019ll hop on her bike to cycle to Alblasserdam, from where she will take the bus to Kralingse Zoom. If everything goes according to plan, the trip will take around 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSanne van der Most<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Eline can\u2019t get too worked up about this. \u201cMy gymnasium [similar to a grammar school, ed.] was in Dordrecht, so I\u2019m used to travelling. For the time being, I don\u2019t mind staying at my parents\u2019. It\u2019s nice and cheap and my sister\u2019s still living at home too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quite interesting<\/h3>

The spacious hall M1-12, where students attend the Introduction to Law lecture, is filled to capacity with a mix of Criminology students and Law students who have been added for the occasion. Eline isn\u2019t particularly impressed. She looks around and settles on a spot somewhere in the middle of the central area.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward 4 hours to the end of the lecture and Eline is beat. \u201cIt\u2019s quite interesting in itself \u2013 all these different legal disciplines. But it\u2019s not easy to listen to the same lecturer for such a long time. This will take some getting used to.\u201d And the same applies to studying itself. \u201cIt\u2019s not that I\u2019m set on scoring 9 out of 10 each time round. I\u2019ll be happy with a 6 too. But I\u2019ll still have to put a lot of time into this, which means giving up other stuff until later. I play the guitar and I used to perform live as a singer-songwriter. I\u2019ll have to put that on hold for the time being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Underway<\/h3>

Eline refuels with a cappuccino at the Erasmus Pavilion. \u201cI\u2019m off to a seminar shortly. It\u2019s a bummer that I couldn\u2019t pack my Law books yet. My mother just told me they came in the post after I had left this morning. So I\u2019ll have to make do with photocopies for the moment. I\u2019ll be doing this with other books too, by the way. Otherwise it all gets way too expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

To earn some extra money, Eline has a part-time job at a Jumbo supermarket in Papendrecht. \u201cI work at the cheese and sausages counter. It\u2019s a pretty nice job, because we have a fun team. I\u2019ll be working this evening too.\u201d After the seminar \u2013 without a book of her own, although fortunately, a friendly fellow student shared his book with her \u2013 Eline hurries off to Kralingse Zoom for her bus and bike ride home. Back home, she\u2019ll get a quick bite to eat, and afterwards it\u2019s off to the cheese and sausages counter. Her studies are officially underway.<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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