{"id":91327,"date":"2018-10-30T13:25:46","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T12:25:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=91327"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:23:08","slug":"first-year-student-hannah-rotterdam-is-where-im-learning-the-basics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/10\/30\/first-year-student-hannah-rotterdam-is-where-im-learning-the-basics\/","title":{"rendered":"Freshman Hannah: \u2018Rotterdam is where I\u2019m learning the basics\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hannah van Riswijk saw many parts of the world before she even turned eighteen. She has seen places like China, Panama, Australia and Japan, but so far, her degree in Medicine has been the greatest adventure of all. \u201cAnd I\u2019m having a great time. Time is flying.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hannah van Riswijk<\/span><\/p>

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Hannah feels that all that travelling has left its mark on her. \u201cParticularly with regard to independence,\u201d says Hannah, who only just turned eighteen. While she did most of her travelling with her parents and younger sisters, she went to Japan on her own. \u201cI flew to Japan on my own, including a transfer, and before that, I got a visa on my own. Once you\u2019ve done stuff like that, you\u2019re no longer afraid of having to make arrangements yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was eleven when she first went backpacking, but she does not feel that those experiences have given her a leg up on her fellow students. \u201cThe great thing about doing a degree in Medicine is that there are relatively many students who know what the world is like. We do not compete against each other. The general consensus seems to be that we\u2019re all in it together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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