My Experience as a Student in The Netherlands

My Experience as a Student in The Netherlands

The day I left for Netherlands, I was sad and crushed because I was leaving my life behind and at the same time I was excited because I was going to start with a whole new one. I had to say bye to my friends and my Mom especially, it was the hardest thing that I ever had to do.

My first day at school, I was very nervous and scared, students looked twice my size. The first week of college was Study Start Week, we were put in different groups and we would be in the same group for the first module. We were twelve students in a group and the majority of them were Germans. We had four hosts for our group. Our hosts were second year students. My hosts were Germans; they too were very friendly and made me feel very comfortable.

During Study Start Week we were taken around town, we had a tour of our University, were shown the different websites of our University and told which site to access when we needed to view our schedules or any documents that have been uploaded by the teachers. We were also thought PBL (Problem Based Learning) system.

Then there were the games, a lot of games were held so the Media and Entertainment students could gel with the other Media and Entertainment students. We were also taken to the bowling alley and the pool centre. During Study Start Week we also had “Pub Crawl” where we visited all the pubs of the town and had free liquor shots. Dinner was organized for us during the Study Start Week. Study Start Week was filled with excitement.

The week after Study Start Week we began with regular school. We had four modules, the first two modules were was a bit tough because I was still adjusting to the system and I was still home sick. The third and forth module was much easier because I had good groups, I had friends I could count on and I was use to education system by that time.

School used to be for two to three hours. During the week, we had two classes for PBL, class for Management Skills was every fifteen days and lectures were once a week or once in two weeks. The remaining hours were spent on PBL homework, Management Skills homework, Assignments and clubbing.

The most valuable lesson learnt during my study time was “Hard work and Quality work is very important”. The Germans always believed in hard work and results that were provided should be of quality. If quality results were not delivered, then that part of the assignment had to be re-done. No matter what deadlines of the group had to be met, this was couple of days before the actual submission. Each group members then had to make a run through of the assignment and make necessary changes, after the corrections were made, the assignment was then sent to the lay outer. The lay outer would then make the necessary changes and pass it to all the group members. After all the group member would approve, the final copy would be made.

The Germans believed in hard work but they also believed to party harder. Night life for students in Netherlands was a life full of enjoyment. On Thursday, club entries to students were free. Thursday night was known as student’s night. On Mondays students would go to club Noah or Fire Palace. On Thursdays most students would be at Club Hemingway especially because it was a German club. These clubs also had a lot of events for students. Club Gloppe was also known for its events.

Students before they went to clubs would go for pre-drinking to one of their friend’s place. Pre-drinking would start around eight; everyone carried their own drinks. After pre-drinking the students would cycle to the clubs around one or two because the club doors would close at three. Everyone would be at home only at seven or eight in the mornings. If class was at eight some students would leave earlier or go to school directly.

I had girl’s night on Saturday. On girls’ night couple of us would meet at six in the evening, cook some dinner together, have our dinner and later watch a movie with a lot of popcorn, snacks, alcohol and soft drinks. After the movie was over, all of us would just sit and talk for hours. Girls night would never get over before six, we would always reach home after six in the morning.

As an International student in Netherlands, I had a chance to meet the Mayor along with other International students and this gave me an opportunity to make some more friends. Students studying in Netherlands got a lot of discounts. Whenever we went out to eat we were given discounts, if we had to buy a mobile phone we were given a student’s deal. When it came to Sports, we got a sports card were we could do any two sports for free but we had to pay for the student’s sports card.

If I could go back in time and change things I would and if I was ever given an opportunity to go back to the Netherlands I would take the opportunity because it was one of the best years of my life. I would do anything to be with my friends again, because I really miss them.

Allison Gonsalves

Roll. No. 17