This part about the Netherlands will focus on places, such as the biggest cities you can travel to, culture and university life!
Places
It’s easy to travel to other countries from the Netherlands. Either by train or FlixBus (usually the cheapest option), you can go on a weekend trip to Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg or go on a longer trip to England, France and places further in Germany, such as Berlin! Though I can guarantee that you will also experience diversity in the Netherlands — many students and people are international, so you are bound to hear someone speaking a language other than English or Dutch almost every day.
If you want to explore the Netherlands, then make sure to visit one of the cities — Eindhoven, Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Groningen, Rotterdam, and many more — each of these will surely have something to give you unforgettable moments and experiences! And as a student living in the Hague, make sure to go to the beach — Scheveningen — to enjoy the North Sea, the Mauritshuis museum to see the famous painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring” and definitely give the Dutch fries a try with pindakaas sauce (peanut butter); you will certainly find a fry’s place in any of these cities.
Culture
Cheese — arguably, a part of Dutch identity. It’s so important that they even host the famous yearly cheese market in Alkmaar. And if you can’t make it, then you will be sure to find many varieties at all the local supermarkets. One example of a typical Dutch lunch even consists of two plain bread pieces with a slice of cheese in the middle!
Besides this simple, yet significant dairy product, another food-related Dutch cultural thing is that almost everything is fried. This includes some of the traditional Dutch foods you will be able to find in the Netherlands, such as bitterballen (meat-based snack), kroket (croquette), frikandel (a Dutch sausage), and kaassoufflé (cheese snack).
And, what really surprised me, is that Dutch people for breakfast sometimes eat bread with chocolate sprinkles! Supermarkets usually even have a shelf just filled with all kinds of chocolate sprinkle packages. Speaking of chocolate, did you know that the popular chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely is Dutch?! There is even a Super Store in Amsterdam where you can create your own chocolate, so if you enjoy sweets as much as me, make sure to add this place to your bucket list.
Besides food, other things you should be aware of are that in the Netherlands, after you are done g5abbing food with friends, don’t be surprised if you get a Tikkie, a popular online payment method that can be sent to you so you can pay your fair share. Most importantly, be sure to remember the difference between a coffee shop and a café. If you want to get a cup of coffee, look for cafés, coffee shops are for a different, green type of energy.
University life
Since I can’t speak for most of the universities in the Netherlands when it comes to their university life, remember when reading this that this information is based on my experience at my university (Leiden University in The Hague, by the way).
Seeing as the student number in my programme is big (we were 500 people at first), interacting with professors is not as easy as in Waterloo, I would say. At least when everyone in the programme has a lecture (because of a course mandatory for everyone), it happens in a big lecture hall where professors usually lead the lecture and don’t ask questions. So, besides talking to professors during the break or before/after the lecture, there is not a close student-teacher academic relationship. But if you have region lectures (because in the programme you have to choose your specialisation), it means smaller classes and, based on what kind of professor you have, a higher chance of getting to know the professor better and having a nicer, close-knit environment in the class. When it comes to interactions with tutorial-lecturers, since every course has a tutorial (every 2-3 weeks) led by a tutorial-lecturer or even a professor in groups of 10-15 people, you as a student have a better chance of asking the professor for help, whether it is about the topic discussed in the lecture, an assignment or other course-related topics the professor is passionate about.
As for grading, check whether your courses have multiple parts that make up your final grade. It can be an academic portfolio, a project, a presentation (usually all under “assignments”) and an exam(s). Often you will see a statement saying that you need to get at least a 5.5 to pass the course, but make sure to always check the requirements and course descriptions to see what you must do to pass a course (and find out whether you need to take an exam — if not, I’m happy for you).
Lastly, if you ever want to take a break from studying and want to find out what the university has to offer besides academics, such as connecting with your peers, make sure to check out events hosted by your programme’s committee(s). And if you are a sports enthusiast, you can try to find student clubs or local teams (tip: the most popular sport in the Netherlands is soccer).
I hope that after reading the two articles, you have learned more about student life in the Netherlands and feel more prepared to take your next step towards a new experience!