Europe

Imagine walking along the canals in the Netherlands, the water shimmering in the sunlight and purple and yellow flowers blooming around you. There’s a windmill in the distance and the smell of something sweet in the air. You almost forget that you’ve slept for only three hours on the plane, that you have two suitcases bumping along behind you and that, with your spotty signal, you’re pretty sure Google Maps has lost you.

Choosing to study international business administration (IBA) at Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University in the Netherlands was one of the best decisions I ever made. 

The Netherlands is a friendly country that is tailored to international students, so don’t be afraid to start your international adventure here. You don’t even need to speak Dutch because many of the degrees are in English, and that is a big advantage.  

I am writing this blog on 23 January 2023, which marks 12 months since I boarded my flight to Madrid to begin my year studying abroad. I was doing a year overseas with my home university, the University of Texas at Austin. I remember my energy and eagerness. It feels surreal thinking back to how 2022 started when now feels like the typical start to another year.  

As a pre-law student studying at the University of Texas at Austin, I was lucky to have the opportunity to study abroad in Prague in the Czech Republic during the fall semester of 2022.  I studied at Charles University, one of the biggest universities in the country.  

I chose the university because the course selection lined up with what I was studying in Austin. A lot of my classes synced up with the sort of content I was learning back at home and I found both educational experiences meshed together well.  

If you live in the European Union (or one of a few other countries outside the EU), you may be able to take part in the Erasmus exchange programme, which is designed for university students in the EU and partner countries to study abroad. Here we look at what the Erasmus+ programme can offer, explain how to apply to it and hear directly from a student who took part in Erasmus.

When choosing where to study abroad, hearing from current students is one of the best ways to get a feel for what a university or country is like. Here, students from a range of universities in Europe share some of their top tips and the biggest challenges they faced when studying abroad.