My exchange experience – Tilburg University, The Netherlands

Traveling to and from your exchange

This was very easy. The exchange group (ESN) met us at the train station in Tilburg with big vans and drove us to campus. Then they drove us to our residences and helped us bring our luggage to our rooms.

Going home was a bit of a disaster. Due to snow storms in Europe and the US, it took a while to get home. Travelling at Christmas time was chaos. I left Holland on Dec 18 and got home really early in the morning on the 21st. Just keep that in mind.

You can get a pretty good deal if you book a round trip, but it is hard to know when you will be coming back home, because it depends on your final exams. You find out when the final exams are for the classes when you are signing up for them during the welcome week. I had to choose courses that had exams before Christmas because I needed to come home and start the next semester at UW in January. Some of the final exams could be in January.

Living arrangements

I lived in residence at Tilburg University, which was called Professor Verbernelaan (aka Verbs).

There are a few other residences on and near campus on that website as well. In Verbs, I lived on the top floor, 5th, with Dutch students as well as other exchange students. We all had our own rooms with a bed, wardrobe, bookshelf, desk, and lamp. The floors hold about 17 rooms, and you share bathrooms and showers with everyone. There is also a common room with a TV and a kitchen with lockers where you can keep your food. Word on the street was that this was going to be torn down soon and rebuilt, so keep that in mind. I paid about $600 Canadian a month, but I thought it was worth it because it was only a 5 minute walk to campus and there were many exchange students living in these buildings so I was close to everyone.

Courses and what your thoughts were on them

They offer a lot of courses in English at Tilburg University. They have a program called Leisure Studies there, but only had 1 course available when I was there. But it was a great course and was related to the courses at UW. The courses I took were:

Labour, Care and Leisure

Consumer Behaviour

Cross-Cultural Psychology for non-psych students

European Values and Norms

The way they grade is a bit different in Holland. They grade from 1-10 and a 6 is a pass. It is also hard to get a 9. So its fair that UW doesn’t transfer over the grades. All you have to do is pass.

Visas

You don’t need any visas for going to the Netherlands, but you do need to get a Residence Permit (which I found out when I arrived is quite pricey). There are documents you must prepare before you leave, and you must bring these to the Netherlands.

Final Notes

This experience was the best decision I’ve ever made. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to experience another culture and meet people from all around the world. Holland was a great place because it was quite central. It was easy to travel around to other countries, and people from all around the world came to study at Tilburg University. The student exchange program at Tilburg was one of the best parts. They arrange many different activities and events for exchange students to participant in. There is always something going on every week! Check out the website for more information