My Exchange at The University of Groningen
I was wanting to do an exchange for a long time especially when my brother came back from his own exchange to Tilburg, Netherlands and told me all about the amazing times he had. In my second year, I decided I would do one at some point during my degree and so through the university webpage I found out about 360 international. Due to COVID, my exchange was delayed until the second semester of my 4th year.
I went on exchange to Groningen, Netherlands. When I first arrived I was nervous but very excited to start my experience and meet new people. I was already familiar with the country due to my family being Dutch, so it made my start a bit more comfortable.
It was my first time in Groningen though and I absolutely loved the city, really student-based, a lot of young as well as international people there. Everywhere was close enough to bike to and the overall look of the city was beautiful. I had an amazing student accommodation building, I was with 50 other exchange students which allowed me to meet some amazing people, some who I will be friends with for life all around Europe and the world.
In terms of the university, I really liked the campus, it was very modern with good facilities. Located just north of the city it was in its own sort of suburb in a way which is quite different to Auckland. The classes were actually not too much different in terms of teaching in lectures, tutorials were a bit more intense with you being forced to speak and do different tasks. The overall difficulty level though was around the same as here, which was reflected on my grades being fairly decent.
Throughout my exchange I was lucky enough to do a lot of travelling, I managed to go to 10 cities around Europe on weekend trips and during the holidays. It is easily done, with flights, trains busses being reasonably cheap around Europe if you have some money saved up. I had some of the best times of my life doing these trips and for someone going on exchange in Europe, I would recommend making the most of it and traveling as much as you can.
Throughout my time I also played futsal with a university-based club. It was very enjoyable for me, but I can speak Dutch and with the whole team being Dutch boys it made it easy for me to get along with them. Although I would say that everyone in the Netherlands has amazing English so any language barriers would not be an issue in this country.
I wouldn’t say there was any real difficult challenges during this exchange that hindered my experience but at times it could be slightly overwhelming. You don’t get too much time to chill, especially for me because I wanted to make the most of every minute I was there.
Q&A
What were some of the highlights of the academic experience at your host university?
I would say the group work, it had much more of a focus in Groningen and allowed me to communicate with the locals more.
Would you recommend any particular activity/activities unique to your host country or university?
If you go to Groningen, I would recommend going to raves, I went to quite a few with the friends I made and we had a great time.
What are your top 3 tips for future students attending your host university or going on exchange to your host country?
- Get a bike on swapfiets and have it ready for pickup the first day you are there
- Enjoy the warmer weather/sunny days, because during the winter months it can be miserable
- Socialize and do as many things as possible, the time goes so quick and you’ll regret it if you spend it in your room
How much did you budget for your exchange? Was this enough? Were there any lessons learned that would help future students budget for their own exchange?
I was lucky enough that my parents financially supported me as well as student allowance payments. This allowed me to travel quite a bit throughout. The one thing I can reccomend is that money goes away very quickly, even if you are traveling around cheaply, there are a lot of things that need to be bought to make sure you have plently of savings.
What are your most significant takeaways from your experience abroad?
What I loved the most is that there can be people from all around the world with completely different cultures, but you share the same thoughts of enjoyment and love.This was especially felt in my amazing student accomodation where everyone was so kind.
Do you want to share anything about travels you did outside your host city/country?
Always stay in hostels and don’t be afraid of going up to people and starting a conversation. Many are solo travelers looking to meet people as well, I had amazing times and met great peope doing this exactly.
