Being an International Student in the Netherlands

Photo Credit: Toerisme

A few months prior to moving to the Netherlands to study at the Hanze University, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. The only thing I knew what I wanted to do was to study abroad, and that’s where I started. Shortly after beginning the International Communications program at Hanze, I realized that this program was unlike any other. This program allowed me to meet so many students from all over the world! I met students from Bulgaria, Italy, Aruba, Lebanon, and so many more countries I never even heard of.

At Hanze, it is required to pair up with people from other countries and work on the final projects with the people in that group. Doing this allowed me to experience the other cultures of the world. I could really see the culture of those students come to life when it meant getting together and starting on our projects. Because this is a University of Applied Sciences, I had to work hard and pay attention to my classes.

This program wasn’t always the easiest for me. There were times when I wanted to give up because I couldn’t understand what the teachers were trying to communicate. Sometimes the teachers were bad with English, and other times they were just too vague and couldn’t explain what they meant properly. Nevertheless, I worked hard and pulled through in the end.

I think the hardest thing about being an international student was getting around the city. Street signs and busses are all in Dutch and if you don’t learn the basics of the language, getting around is impossible. Obviously, most people here in the Netherlands speak English but because I’m so shy I preferred getting lost and finding my way an hour later rather than asking someone for directions. Another thing I struggled with was that my American bank card wasn’t accepted so I had to transfer money from my PayPal to my boyfriend’s bank account, and then have that transferred into my Dutch bank account.

I realized that this study program wasn’t for me While studying Entrepreneurship in the third block of this program. I’ve never been much of a people person, and I figured I would give this program a chance anyway. I fell in love with the first block of the program, which was Public Relations. I enjoyed dealing with social media and keeping relationships, however I did not like the part about marketing and business. Although this program isn’t for me, I gained a wonderful life experience. By studying abroad for a year, I gave myself the chance to experience and learn new things I could never do back home in America. Even if I would have known this program wasn’t the one for me in the beginning, I still would choose to study abroad because it has changed the way I see the world and the people in it.