Past Review
By Dan F (Neurobiology and Neurosciences., The College of William and Mary) for
Leiden University: Leiden - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
I made really good friends I love the country...I may go back for graduate school to UvA next year The traveling was a lot of fun. I couch surfed with friends a lot, and I always stayed in my destination for a week (or longer). That amount of time gives you the true sense of the city, and it allows you to walk it over more than two or three times. I stayed away from Paris and London (although they're supposed to be great cities) and sought some more remote destinations while I had a home there. I always liked returning to Holland no matter how nice the place I had been was
Personal Information
| The term and year this program took place: | Spring 2009 |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The classes were fairly independent. There were two or three, three hour lectures every week (I lined them up in the middle of the week so that my weekends were 4 days long). The instructors changed hands several times, with guest lecturers not uncommon. There was only one final exam in each class, and it was pretty heavily based from the text. I took my book on the plane/train with me and studied with friends while traveling. I didn't have excellent grades in the end, but I passed all of the classes and had an excellent time traveling. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Easy to contact, office right down the street, and very competent in their policies (but flexible) |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Not the cheapest, not the most expensive. The view and room were great, the students on the hall all got to know each other well, and the care takers were easy to contact. |
| * Food: |
Leiden is in the "Green Heart", and so seasonal produce is cheap, as well as dairy from the local farms. Meat was expensive, but eggs certainly weren't (neither was wurst) |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The Dutch may be the friendliest and most inviting groups of people on Earth. Hands down. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
GP's and hospital nearby with universal healthcare. I was there during the swine flu scare, and so they made us register with a local GP (mine was in Amsterdam, but I think there were a couple even closer than that) |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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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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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | 20-30E a week on food, 10E a week on beer or drinks, maybe 7E a week at a coffeeshop (or a coffeehouse for that matter) Bring money for a bike (be ready for the student bike sale). It pays off; biking is free and easy, and it's so well supported in Holland |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Beginner |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
I have Dutch family, my cousin who moved from US and her Dutch husband. They helped with the language a lot (I learned with my 2 year old cousin). The Dutch know English very very well, but they're willing to teach you Dutch if you ask to use it. Once the accent is down, you can use it casually around town without a hitch. |
Direct Enrollment/Exchange
| * Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? | Direct Enrollment |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Prepare for a bit of red tape when getting your visa in Rijswijk (a nearby town). Make sure you have enough money in your bank account for a visa, and know the order of getting a bank account in relation to getting a visa. I did all of this on my own ahead of the program, and so I had a visa (a longer-lasting stamp in my passport book) and a bank account about 3 weeks before many others. It helps |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Emotion and Cognition |
| Course Department: | PBK23091 |
| Instructor: | Dr. Brosschot, Dr. Hommel |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Sort of a scattered course for the first half of the course. Dr. Hommel took over in the second half, and it improved. He's a pretty funny character, and he teaches very well. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | Yes, the scope of this course was pretty easy to assess |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Consciousness |
| Course Department: | PBK23093 |
| Instructor: | Dr. Hommel |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Hommel is a character. He was a very good instructor in retrospect; he used plenty of examples, he engaged the class, he grasped concepts well, and he knew the scope of a course that was sort of abstract. The book was horrible. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | Yes, but it was hard to convince professors here that consciousness was a class in itself. |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Cultural Aspects of Health and Healthcare |
| Course Department: | PBK23095 |
| Instructor: | Dr. Stan Maes |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | The lectures were good, and there was an outside presentation. A good chance to get to know and work with Dutch students. The final exam wasn't difficult, and I actually ended up enjoying the class |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | Yes as an anthropology course on Medicine and Culture |
