Reviews of Universiteit Utrecht | Netherlands

Useful | 0

Ester C

Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Biotechnology, Undergraduate, Erasmus

Languages

Language of instruction: English

Local language was: Different than language of instruction

Was learning English a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my English

Was learning the local language a key decision factor?

Yes, I wanted to improve my the local language

How much did you improve your English?

My level before: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)
My level after: At ease in most situations

How much did you improve your the local language?

My level before: Did not speak it
My level after: Basic phrases

Language difficulties

Social

Educational

Administrative / Institutional

Overall

Personal comments

I had not knowledge of the local language but it didn't represent any problem nor academically neither in social live, as almost all the people speak English fluently and they don't have any problem to speak you in this foreign language.

Useful | 1

Ester C

Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Biotechnology, Undergraduate, Erasmus

Academic

Course recommendations

I was doing a research project as a part of the Plant Biology master, so I can not give any advice of courses. About my experience in this kind of program, I'm really satisfied about teacher attention and for all the facilites. I really learnt having a lot of fun at the same time.

My academic experiences

Quality of courses

Variety of courses

Access to resources

Interaction with teachers

Interaction with international students

Interaction with local students

Personal comments

well, It could be intersting to combine some teaching course and a research project at the same time.

My opinion of the university assessment

Exams at end of course

Exams throughout the course

Essays and/or projects at the end of course

Essays and/or projects throughout the course

Overall

Useful | 0

Ester C

Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Biotechnology, Undergraduate, Erasmus

Expenses

Main source of funding:

Personal savings

Other sources of funding:

Family<br> An ERASMUS grant

Work opportunities:

I didn't explore any work options

Personal spending habits

In my own country I usually spend a lot of days in my parents house so I don't have to spend any money buying food. About nightlife and travel, during my Erasmus I had much more spare time than I used to have at home when I was studing.

Travel, Nightlife, Food, Overall:

was more expensive than at home.

Housing, Telephone:

was the same price as at home.

Accessibility of student needs

Second-hand text books

Second-hand household items

Computers / Internet

Administrative

Money from home

Personal comments

It is quite difficult to get a banck account. You need some special documents from university to get one, and once you have got it, it is not possible to get all the information about it in English. Furthermore, I have to say that the banck staaf doesn't help you to much.

Useful | 1

Ester C

Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Biotechnology, Undergraduate, Erasmus

Overall

I wish I had known...

I wish I had known about the ESN before leaving.

In my opinion:

I loved it but I'm not sure everybody would.

Important factors in my choice
(1) Unimportant – (4) Very important

Academic reasons

3

Culture

3

Costs

2

Activities

3

Campus life

2

Party / people

3

Weather / location

3

Personal recommendation

From my own experience, I hardly recomend to pact a timetable before startin any resarch project, otherwise you are going to spend much more time at university than you would like, specially in comparation with the regular Erasmus students.

During my experience abroad, I ...
(1) Never – (4) A lot

Became familiar with another culture

3

Traveled

3

Improved language skills

3

Met people from other countries

3

Became more independent

3

Partied a lot

3

Experienced a change in life

3

Advanced my studies & career

3

Final comments

If you are planning travel a lot around the contry, it is really intersting to by a discount card for the train that can be used for 4 persons at the same time. It's quite expensive but you really save money at the end. And the most important advice: if you don't want to spend a month in a hostel, look for accomodation before to get there. It's really difficult to get a room for rent for yourself!!

Useful | 0

Ester C

Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Biotechnology, Undergraduate, Erasmus

Housing

Type of housing: A room exchange

Arranged by: Host university

If returning, I would choose: A room exchange

Why?

It was a great experience living with native people.

Personal assessment

Cost

Facilities

Location

Cleanliness

Space

Personal comments

Personally I was really lucky about acomodation getting a nice place to stay, near university and relative cheap as well. The negative thing was that I didn't apply for accomodation before leaving, and once there I had to wait for a month until get any accomodation.

Useful | 0

Ester C

Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Biotechnology, Undergraduate, Erasmus

Student life

Describe host city:

Student life dominates the city

Activities: Takes place mostly within the university/student environment

Travel, Nightlife: Takes place both within and outside of the university/student environment

Personal social experience

Activities

Nightlife

Travel

Overall

Personal comments

Well, is quite hard to remember names but here there are some advices: If you really want to meet other international students, go to Mick O'connells pub. it's also pretty interesting to ask for a mentor form the ESN organitzation, so normally they are local students that can show you quite interesting places to visit as inform you of a lot of parties to join in.

Universiteit Utrecht

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