Details

• Netherlands
• MAWiRe-21
• Graduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

My application process was well planed. I looked at all the universities which were of interest to me and also which courses they would offer. Moreover another important part is, that you plan beforehand to leave out all the electives at your home university so that transferring the credits would be easier. Of course when the time arrived for me to leave to The Netherlands, I made a packing list, not forgetting thing like highlighters or sticky notes, things you also need at home for uni tasks.

2. Accommodation

My accommodation search was horrible, as The Netherlands have a big housing problem in general. As Maastricht was a student city, I tried finding accommodation via WhatsApp, which I would say is the best way, way better than Maastricht Housing. In the end I was living in a shared house, however also the accommodation was rather expensive. I was in luck, because when coming I didn't have any issues with heating or mice and Maastricht itself is very safe. I wish I would have started texting almost every person presenting their room in a group chat, because there are SOO many people who also need accommodation.

3. Academic life at host university

The university, especially the law faculty are very nice, however they have a completely different style of teaching. There are humongous pages of reading each week and when you don't attend the tutorials, you are not well prepared for the exam. You have to start studying as soon as the courses start and in general it is almost impossible to write good grades at exams, because they look for a very specific expectation on how the answer should be formulated and structured even though the answer might be right. All in all you have to like the style of "problem-based learning".

5. Every day life in the host country

They do have public transport, however nobody uses it, everyones way of getting around are bikes. As already mentioned, it is rather safe and you can do a few things in Maastricht. It is a very small city, social life is rather studying together in cafes, night life is just bars. They have a lot of sport options, a few gyms.

6. Testimonial

It was fine, I made a few good friends, however university took away a huge part of the fun. I believe Maastricht University, especially the PBL system is not a good exchange place, also concerning the living situation. I enjoyed my time here anyway, but I don't think that I would particularly recommend it.