Exchange Report

It helped me a lot to read other Exchange Reports and talk with exchange students from the destinations I was interested in going. At the EBN you can be a buddy for exchange students who come to Vienna and it helped me to learn more about my future exchange place and already get to know people from there. Don't stress too much about the interview, it was more chill then I exspected. It is only important to be able to explain your motivation clearly and to explain how an exchange semester at this university/this country can help you to develope professionally and personally. It is also always great if you can talk a bit about what you are doing next to your study (Clubs, special interest groups, ÖH, etc.) and explain how your experience there will help you at your exchange semester.

It is very difficult to find housing in Utrecht or the Netherlands in generell but possible. If you are lucky you will get a spot through the SSH. Your host university will tell you about it. But you have to be very quick to book a spot. It is best if you use an atomic clock and just do it like you do with the WU course sign up. If you don't get a spot there you can try Air B'nB early on (it is best if you already book in June or July) otherwise you can use housing platforms like HousingAnywhere, Uniplaces or the Dutch plattform kamernet. Those websites are likely to post available offers only 1-3 months in advance so keep that in mind. Everyone told me that I had to start searching very early and I agree with that, but often the available spots are only published 1-2 months in advance, so don't let others stress you out too much. If you staying for a year you can try applying for student dorms like Plaza or Xior (they sadly only accept rentals for 12+ months). I also recommend making a group of all exchange students. who go to Utrecht and search for housing together. You can also easily buy furniture in the Netherlands for example an extra bed if the apartment you found only has one room with a bed and another only furnitured as an office. It is often cheaper than to search for a place with two or more furnitured bedrooms. I found my place over HousingAnywhere and had in general good experiences. I originally applied for a different flat that wasn't available anymore, but when I called with the landlord I asked if he has some other apartments available and that is how I got it. I found it 2,5 months in advance and paid 1200€/month (fully funitured). I lived with together with another student from WU who also did her exchange in Utrecht. Although the flat was nice and we had everything we needed, I would not reccommend you to rent with our landlord Igor Traijkov. He seemed chill and we didn't had problems during our stay, but when we moved out, he refused to give us back our deposit because he claimed the flat was too dirty and we damaged stuff which was definitely not the case. If you found a place you like to rent always make at least a video call with the landlord and let him show you the apartment. Also always insist on a contract. Sadly, there are some scammers around, so if it sounds too good to be true, the landlord does not want to show his face or answer your questions or you don't get a contract it is most likely a scam. Lastly, if you don't find an affordable place directly in the city try to search outside (Zeist, Hilversum, etc.) most of the suburban places are easy to reach with a bike or public transport and they are cheaper.

I enjoyed the teaching style mostly. Most of the professors make an effort to teach their subjects and to include the class, give practical examples and exersises. I liked the academic club "Playground". It is a start-up club who assists you and connects you with others if you are interested to build a start up or they give speaches about start-up related topics. You can also just simply go there to study and get free coffee. At science Park you also have some restaurants around that sell cheap food. Other than that I didn't found more special facilities or academic culture but you will find there everything you need to study. Some friends of mine also liked the sport club Olympos, which has a gym and offers sport classes but I found it too expensive to be interested in it. The student association ECU organises nice events which are fun and good to connect with others. You can find them on Instagram: ecu92utrecht In generell the campus and the students are super international. Everything works in English and most of the students I met where from different couhntries as well.

Basically everyone goes around the city by bike and that is really convenient. You can place your bike nearly everywhere in the city in front of restaurants, clubs, the uni, etc. They also offer bike parking garages called "fietsenstalling", which I reccoment if you are in a crowed place of the city, next to clubs and druck people or want to park your bike for multiples hours. It is safe and protects you from your bike getting stolen or damaged. But in general when you always remember to lock your bike, nothing will happen to it. Biking is also the cheapest option to get around. You can get a bike second hand for chean (80-100€) or rent it monthly from Swapfiets (ca. 40€/month) which I had good experiences with. There are also buses and train but they can get get expensive (3€ for a single bus trip), (10-30€ per train ride)You can get monthly subscriptions from OV or NS which make it cheaper to explore. I especially recommened the weekend free subscription from NS where you pay 40€/month and can ride every weekend for free with every train. The city is very safe also at night so don't worry. Just don't forget to lock your bike as there are bike thiefs. For leisure activities there is an international student bar with cheap prices and lot's of exchange students called cambridge bar. Also the organisations ESN Utrecht and Buddy Go Dutch organising some events (not that many though) also the ECU student association as I mentioned before. I found most of my friends by going to a weekly Language Cafe at "Cafe Marktzicht" and I really love this people. If you happen to come across a friendgroup that has the WhatAppGroup "Alcogoalism" definitly join and say hi to them from me. But during my first two months it took me a while to meet friends and connect with others. So don't feel stressed or disencouraged if you don't find friends right away. Just search up events and dare to put yourself out there and you will meet the right people at one point. For sports there is the gym/sports club "Olympos" and in summer you can swimm in some of the canals or make a boot trip.

I enjoyed exploring new things and that I met so many people from different backgrounds. I also really enjoyed the uni course "innovation management" and also the course "essentials for entrepreneurs", because you got to build up your own start-up. And definitely go to Karneval in Maastricht or Den Bos and the events Koningsdag, Bevrijdingsdag and the Pride Parade in Utrecht. I can recommend everyone to do an exchange semester. Even if you are afraid you might not find friends or be overwhelmed by moving abroad (like me), everything will work out and you won't regret it.