Loved the UvA! January 16, 2025
By Nora H (Political Science and Government, Brandeis University) - abroad from 08/21/2024 to 12/20/2024 with
IES Abroad: Amsterdam - Social Sciences & Humanities
It was absolutely worthwhile to be abroad, I learned so much about myself and about the world. I gained friends from a variety of countries and a rigorous academic experience.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
I really enjoyed my classes at the University of Amsterdam. The professors were kind and helpful, don't be intimidated by the Dutch bluntness! I received a lot of useful feedback on my writing and was generally impressed with the quality of the education provided at the UvA. The class I took with IES (a Dutch class) was a joke. I did not learn anything and got an A easily. It was very frustrating to not actually be taught any Dutch. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
A few of the staff at the IES center were very kind and helpful; many of them were patronizing and either unable or unwilling to actually work with you to solve a problem. I think part of the issue is that they are primarily part time-- this made it challenging to form relationships with them and generally made them less effective at their jobs. I imagine this is an issue at the IES management level, not about the individual staff members. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I was in a great location, but the housing was not particularly nice. Things were often broken and the housing management was rude. I was in The Social Hub City-- IES offers many housing locations in Amsterdam and peoples' experience with them varies widely. |
| * Food: |
The Dutch are not known for their food but Amsterdam is a very international city with a lot of yummy options!! In my housing I was responsible for cooking for myself which I liked. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Dutch people are not overly friendly and I didn't form close relationships with any Dutch people. I did have good relationships with students in my classes, including the Dutch students. I became close with other international students from other places in the world, which was really cool! I am keeping in contact with friends from Bulgaria, Sweden, and Peru. In my opinion, this opportunity to make friends from all over is one of the coolest things about the international program at the UvA. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Did not require healthcare while abroad. |
| * Safety: |
Amsterdam is super safe and a very approachable city. I felt safe being out at all hours of the day and night. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
If there were another program through which I could access the UvA, I would pick a different program. While I loved Amsterdam and the UvA, IES was not the ideal way to access them. |
Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | It's not a diverse program, the vast majority of people in it attend very small (smaller than Brandeis) New England colleges and come from wealth. Relatedly, IES has a completely ridiculous policy related to gendered housing. On trips where we stayed in hostels, they would not place students who had different gender markers on their passports together. This caused a few issues for trans and gender non-conforming students: 1. The obvious, which is that many students might not be comfortable in a room they were placed in based off of their gender marker. 2. Worse, this system essentially revealed to everyone on the trip what gender marker a person has on their passport-- this is highly uncomfortable and potentially even unsafe for trans and gender non-conforming students. 3. More problematic still, IES Amsterdam still offers something they call 'gender inclusive rooms.' These are rooms where everyone still has to share the gender marker on their passport, but they are marked as gender inclusive. This policy amounts to creating two rooming options: single gender rooms where trans people are allowed, and single gender rooms where trans people are not allowed. I believe this policy comes from IES headquarters in Chicago, and therefore likely applies to all IES programs. Even so, the Amsterdam staff could have at least handled it better on their end. |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Academic or LinguistYou went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you! |
