The University Scholars Programme (USP) has interesting exchange partners in different regions of the world, offering USP students the opportunity to gain a truly unique learning and cultural experience overseas. University College Utrecht (UCU) of the Utrecht University in The Netherlands is one of them. Below, Afiqah writes about her UCU experience. She will have more to share when she meets with fellow USP students at the “USP International Programmes Sharing Session — Exchange and Special Programmes” on 28 August 2015, 2.00-3.30pm, at the USP Master’s Commons. The “USP International Programmes Sharing Session — Study Programmes” will be held first on 25 August 2015, same time, same place.

“What strike me most about UCU were the classes, college living, and vibrant student life.”

I spent my fall semester in Year 3 on exchange in University College Utrecht (UCU). Not many non-Europeans would know where Utrecht is, and more often than not, I would have to use Amsterdam as a point of reference and say “Utrecht is about half an hour from Amsterdam by train!”

For me, I really wanted to head to a place that would grant me easy access to most of Europe. So this narrowed down my choices to land-locked countries such as The Netherlands, Germany, and France.

But after talking to some friends and seniors about UCU, I was convinced that UCU was the place for me. And I was not disappointed for I would always describe Utrecht as having all the charm of Amsterdam (with the canals and the architecture) but with only a fraction of the tourists.

It was a huge change from the hustle and bustle of city life. The pace of life was slower, less stressful, and yet not to the extent I was bored or restless.

It really gave me time to stop and smell the flowers. The best part of being in The Netherlands is that it is extremely bike friendly! No distance is too far on your bike. I once cycled 42km from UCU to Amsterdam University College to visit some of my USP friends on exchange there.

But perhaps what strike me most about UCU were the classes, college living, and vibrant student life. They were very much like USP where classes were much smaller (no more than 28 students) and this, I felt, made class discussions much more intimate.

The class environment was also respectful, open, and very collaborative. This is especially so for their foundation classes where they encouraged discussions and learning between classmates with various interests in the subject.

One of the classes that I really enjoyed, however, was a senior’s class, Origins and Crises of the Global Economy. This was a really interesting class for me because even though it was mostly economic in nature, students were able to bring their historical, sociological, and even anthropological knowledge into discussions as we traced the global economy from its roots in mercantilism all to way to its current capitalist nature. Since the class had only 10 students, discussions were very in-depth.

Aside from the academics, UCU has an extremely vibrant student life where one can join various student committees. These ranged from EconsCo (their equivalent of our interest groups), to CultureCo, DebateCo, DanceCo, and even BarCo, where students manage and bartend the UCU bar.

In addition to that, most UCU students live on campus with 6-12 students in a single unit. This gave me the opportunity to make very good friends with local Dutch students.

We had unit dinners every Thursday, studied together in the living room, and even watched Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show while binging on chocolate and chips together. I was very fortunate to have had really hospitable unit mates who really put in effort to make our unit a home.

One of them, Sarah, brought another shelf (a much bigger one than the one provided) to place all our food, snacks, and fruits. No one really cared who ate what, so long as the shelves were constantly filled up. Another unit mate, Myrthe, managed to obtain a cheap freezer so that we could store ice cream and have them with freshly baked brownies.

My last big takeaway from this exchange was that it made me so much more independent and this was really because I became very comfortable with travelling alone.

Sometimes it is difficult to coordinate travel plans with friends who are currently on exchange so I travelled alone to places like Prague, Budapest, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, and Barcelona.

I had to plan for my own transport, lodging, and essentially just getting around. I had friends who were a bit concerned about my safety since I was a solo female traveler, but not once did I feel unsafe. I have met so many interesting and different people on my solo travels and just conversing with them and hearing their views and ideas really opened up my perspectives on things.

I am very grateful to be given the chance to study abroad, even if it was just for a semester. The lessons I learnt inside such different classroom environments, and life skills I picked up outside those classrooms through travelling will always stay with me.

And it is these lessons and experiences that developed me as a person. Coming back, I felt more at ease and confident, and ready (perhaps not so willingly — who would not have wanted to stay abroad longer?) to face any challenges that may come.