Details

• Netherlands
• MACEMS-17
• Graduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

Buy tickets in advance, consider different airports, not only Rotterdam. You can go to Amsterdam or Eindhoven and then take a train from there, might be cheaper. I travelled by train around 12 hours with one change in Frankfurt Airport, it was nice but make sure you have enough time between transfer as Deutsche Bahn is never on time

2. Accommodation

Accommodation search is terrible in the Netherlands. The competition is insane, you have to start looking about 6-8 months before arrival. You need to be ready that you won't find the housing for the exact timing of the semester, so you might to arrive earlier. For an exchange the best platform to search are Kamernet, Whats'app groups and Facebook. I found mine on Facebook, but be aware the huge number of scammers there. The best is to look for sublets from other students. The one thing which makes it easier is that you don't need the registration. I lived in an apartment with an old Dutch/Indonesian family about 1 hour of travel by tram+metro to uni. It was cheap, but this compensated with transport prices, so you'd better find something more expansive but closer to uni (in a biking distance).

3. Academic life at host university

Campus is nice, has all the necessary facilities academic culture is similar to what we have at WU, and as a CEMS student you don't have a lot of choice for courses. But one really good course is innovation management.

5. Every day life in the host country

Public transport works pretty good, but it's expensive, use bike if it's feasible for your travelling distance. Rotterdam was pretty safe for me. As a CEMS student I had a bunch of cool CEMS club events for leisure, for sport we played padel, there was a running club, there is a gym right in the uni

6. Testimonial

Great exchange, the most wonderful semester for my whole study time, wonderful people, brilliant CEMS events. The best CEMS club of the semester officially. Courses are decent, nothing spectacular from my perspective, the same as in WU. City is nice, modern, a bunch of places to have fun. Great block seminar in the Rotterdam Port. The only negative think is the accommodation and weather sometimes. If you find a proper accommodation - you'll be happy.