Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN)

It is enjoyable to live with other students in a social environment whilst also having your own space to study and have some privacy.

Readers must normally be bought for every course and often there is a supplementary book also, so buying reading materials can be expensive if you are staying for the year and studying perhaps 9 or 10 courses. A good idea is to club together with your friends and share readers, which are specifically tailored to the course to not as good value as a proper book which you can use again.

Courses in Groningen were extremely varied as regards workload and difficulty, so it is difficult to generalise, but overall I had no real problems.

No, my University provided lots of information and I was able to meet with students who had lived in Groningen the year before.

Groningen is an excellent choice for your ERASMUS year. It is a beautiful city that is small enough to get to know it really well but large enough to have plently of life and culture. The university itself has a good reputation and courses and wide ranging and enjoyable. One thing I would strongly advise is to seek accomadation in a student house rather than a private flat, as this was probably the best part of my year away and makes meeting people very easy and non-stressful.

Certain things in Holland such as rent and some foods are cheaper than in the UK. Also, bills were included in the rent which made a big difference.