Study Program: Psychology and Health. Exchange semester: Fall Academic year: Host University: Vrije Universiteit Brussel Country: Belguim

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1 Study Program: Psychology and Health Exchange semester: Fall Academic year: Host University: Vrije Universiteit Brussel Country: Belguim GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL The Vrije Universiteit Brussel, or VUB, is located in the southeast of Brussels beautiful neighbourhood called Ixelles. It is a nice quarter with a few shops, supermarkets and some really nice coffee places. Brussels itself is a very diverse and vibrant city. It has 1 million inhabitants and 33% is of foreign origin. 104 languages are spoken in Brussels, but the most common ones are are French and Dutch. Most people also speak good English. Probably also because of Brussels being the European Capital. Which also causes the city to be very diverse and multicultural. Brussels is a city that has a lot to offer to its visitors: from events, concerts, and exhibitions going on to sights, street art, beautiful parks, good food and drinks to be tasted. You ve got everything you want in one city! The campus of the VUB is not that big and it has all of it s buildings close to each other, which I thought was really nice. A bit like we have in Tilburg as well. You don t have to cross roads or even take the public transport to go form one building to another. Instead, you just walk on paths in the lawn or through the inside connections between the buildings. The VUB campus has an athletics track, a bank, a coffee shop, a restaurant, a canteen and, funny fact, a bread machine! It also has a lot of sports facilities and since February 2018 a brand new swimming pool! The buildings on the campus of the VUB are quite older than the buildings at Tilburg University, which gives it a slightly less beautiful appearance, but the inside of the buildings does not disappoint you. All necessary facilities are available, I only missed some places to study and the coffee machines that we have in Tilburg. On the other hand, the VUB has some really nice labs and a greenhouse on top of the roof of one of the buildings that I unfortunately didn t need for my study, but it would be amazing to have classes there. FOOD AND GOING OUT For good food near the campus you ll definitely need to go to Coffee College or Le

2 Pain Quotidien. Tout près tout prêt is also a great place to study while enjoying some coffee or one of their famous milkshakes. If you like donuts, Coco Donuts is the place to be! I went there three times and had the most amazing donuts there... and I don t even like donuts that much! If you want to go out at night or have some drinks in the afternoon you should go to El Café, it s a super nice place where lots of students come together to have some beers. You can also eat great food there. In the evening the music turns on and more and more people start standing up from their place to dance and enjoy the rest of the evening. For more choices in bars and clubs you ll need to go to the city centre, where you have a lot of nice pubs and bars close to Place de la Bourse. Don t forget to taste as many different kinds of beers as you can! Brussels is the perfect city to do that and the list of beers in most pubs is endless. The well known Delirium Café has one of the biggest amount of choices in the city. THE VUB IN NUMBERS The VUB had students in 2016/2017. Of which are Bachelor students, are master students, 713 Advanced Master students, PhD students, 95 postgraduates, 112 teachers in training and others (credit students, Erasmus students...) The VUB has 145 study programmes of which 46 are in English and 99 Are in Dutch. In addition, the VUB has alumni. There are international students studying at the VUB having 128 different nationalities. More numbers and facts about the VUB can be found on: Maybe also nice to know for exchange students from outside of Europe, London is only 2 hours away by train, Paris only 1 hour and 20 minutes, Frankfurt 3 hours and Amsterdam 2 hours. PRACTICAL INFORMATION All information for my exchange was available on time. The only difficulties experienced were because of the delay caused by waiting on s and signed documents. The communication between you sending en receiving university is taking a lot of time. My advice is to start with it as soon as you can and keep reminding them to help you to deliver all documents on time. I didn t need any kind of visa since I went from the Netherlands to Belgium. I went to Brussels by car, my parents dropped me of with all my luggage. A few other times I went by

3 train, if I was back in the Netherlands for my birthday for example. I arrived in Brussels on September 18 th, since the introduction activities started the 25 th. The introduction week at de VUB was really nice. Although they didn t have a whole introduction program like I had at Tilburg University, they did have a few nice activities to get to know the country, city and university. They had some practical information sessions and also some fun activities to attend for international students. I also met some other international students there with whom I kept contact during the exchange period. The administration part was still not completely done when I started with my classes. The learning agreement was signed by both universities, but they did it on different documents which meant had to ask them (an wait for it) again. The support I received from the VUB was good, they really tried to make it work as soon as possible. A week after my classes started I could sign in in the online learning environment and after two months I got my student card. Would ve been nice if I had those earlier but after all it worked out fine. HOUSING I was really lucky with finding my student room. I already signed the rental contract in April and I was glad that I didn t have to think about finding a room after it. I had a room in the Brussels UpKot building, a brand new building with lots of facilities, next to the campus of the VUB. I had my own bathroom and I shared a nice kitchen with 9 other girls. I really enjoyed y stay there, since it was new and clean and the people were amazing. Since I found my student room myself, I didn t need any help from the VUB. Staying on the campus of the VUB was also a possibility, but I m glad I found something else. The dorms on campus are really old and dirty, and you live with students who don t care much about their environment. The good news is, that they re building some new student dorms on campus so if you still want to live on campus there will be better options soon. LIVING COSTS

4 My living cost consisted especially of my monthly rent (422 EUR), which I paid from my student grants received from the state in combination with the Erasmus+ grant. I also received some money from my parents to provide myself with daily expenses like groceries. I also had some savings for this five months abroad. Doing the groceries was slightly more expensive in Brussels than it was in the Netherlands. I also had a higher rent compared to other exchange students, but I really do not regret spending more money on my accommodation. The public transport is really good in Brussels and you can get a student card for only 50 EUR. With that card you can use the tram, bus and metro unlimited for one year. Even longer than your exchange period, but still worth it because of the low price. I didn t buy any books, but I know you can buy them on campus for the best price. START AND END OF THE SEMESTER First activity I attended (besides the introduction activities) was Brussel Brost, a music festival for all new and old students in Brussels. It s definitely worth going there since it s a nice party at a nice location and you can meet lots of students there. I also went to the annual VUB gala with my international friends and we had a great night. Last day of classes was during the week before Christmas. From Christmas until the second week of January we had the time to study for our exams. After that, we had three weeks of exams in which I had five in total. A two-semester academic year was new for me since I had four of them at Tilburg University. During the the semester I felt like being less productive but in the end I studied really hard for about a month. THE INTERNATIONAL LIFE The VUB has an International Office. You can walk in there whenever you want and they help you really good. I went there twice for some information about my inscription and they told me what to do or how long I had to wait for it. They also have a lot of flyers with activities or tips to enjoy your stay in Brussels to the max. There are a lot of active student organizations for international students at the VUB: AEGEE, AIESEC VUB, ASCOM, Basta, ESN VUB EhB, MiXOmniA, Vubmun, VVN Youth Brussels, Board of European Students of Technology and the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience. I didn t attend

5 one of those organisations but I did go to some of their activities. I had a lot of contact with local students, since I lived with a lot of them. I also had a group of international students which I saw on a regular basis. Some of them were exchange students as well, but most of them came to Brussels to follow an entire Bachelor's or Master s program. I did not travel outside of Brussels, since I did not move far from my home country and I ve already been to a lot of cities around Brussels or I could go there easily an other time. I really used my time to explore the city as good as possible. CULTURE AND LANGUAGE I did not experience a culture shock while is was on exchange. However, Belgium has a more different culture than the Netherlands than I thought. I expected a lot of similarities, which were there, but I experienced a lot of differences as well. First of all, the Belgian culture is very diverse, since they have the distinction between Wallonia and Flanders. I really experienced a cultural discrepancy between those two. The culture of the Flemings slightly more resembled the Dutch culture, although they were more modest and less directly and assertive against each other. I learned how directly Dutch people are in general, saying what they think and not being afraid of confrontation. I consider myself as someone who doesn t have that in me as much as well, but even I was more assertive etc. than most Belgians I met. I didn t really like this part of their culture, since I don t like turning around things. In that way I believe you ll never come to a good solution or conclusion. I think sometimes directness is needed to communicate smoothly. What I really did like was how kind they where and especially how willing to help everyone was. I really felt welcome in Brussels because of that. I also noticed how most people from Belgium I met are raised very sheltered. They all went home every weekend to bring their laundry home and bring clean clothes and food for the week back to their kot (name for the student room). I was really surprised most of them didn t even know how to use a washing machine or how to make a soup for example. They also told me their parents really expected them to come home every Friday, which is in my opinion less expected when you move

6 out in the Netherlands. I didn t expect to see these differences in Dutch or Belgian people from around my age. I lived with both with Flemish and Walloons and saw those things with both of them. However, Flemish students were in my opinion a bit more reserved and gently than the Walloon students were. I thought it was really funny to discover the differences between the Flemish language and Dutch. Although it s actually the same language, some words are different and the pronunciation is quite different. I experienced a few moments in which I misunderstood someone or the other way around. I feel like I ve learned a lot about the city, country and the people who live there, although five months is not enough to experience everything or to really be able to say things about their culture in general. Especially since Brussels is such an international city it s harder to draw any general conclusions. That s why I described the things I noticed and experienced during my stay in Brussels, and the behaviour or attitudes of the people I met there. I didn t follow any language courses during my stay in Brussels, because I already followed a French language course at Tilburg University before I left. I did learn a little extra French while living in Brussels, but not as much as I hoped, since I spoke Dutch and English most of the time. My English conversation skills did improve a lot. I was already pretty good in reading or writing in English, but I found out I did have some struggles when it came to a real conversation. All that needed was more practice and I m very glad I could have that the past five months. WHAT I GAINED BY GOING ON EXCHANGE Besides improving my language skills, I also really improved myself personally and professionally. I became much more secure of my ability to do whatever I really want as long as I go for it. I also really grew from living on my own for a while, I really enjoyed that. That s also where I learned a lot from people I lived with, from practical things to nice dishes that I would never think of myself. I also love the fact that I followed courses from all kinds of faculties, which really broadened my mind and general knowledge. Being away from my familiar environment and having to find out my way of life all over again really helped me realize some of my priorities in life. It also gave me a clearer view of what I want to do with my future. Besides professional development I think I can state that my personal development is what surprised me the most, in a very good way. I also hope that these experiences will directly, or indirectly benefit my career opportunities.

7 I don t think I would do anything different since I really believe in whatever path you take it will bring you something nice. And in the end it really turned out better than I could ever imagine. The only thing I would do different, and I m sorry, is not going with the Erasmus+ program anymore. Not because I didn t like it, it s an amazing programme and a great opportunity for students, but because of the really low tuition fee in Belgium. The difference between my tuition fee in Tilburg and that of the VUB equalled the Erasmus grant, and the amount of extra work for the Erasmus+ program made it easier for me if I had done it myself. Also, since I already took an extra year between my Bachelor and Master to go on exchange. If you want to go abroad during your regular study schedule or to a country where the tuition fee is higher than at you home university, I would definitely recommend going on an Erasmus exchange. What I will never forget about my exchange period is how good I felt during the whole period abroad. I ve never been more comfortable with myself and my life as I was in Brussels. Everything just worked out fine and I ve passed all my subjects with some really good grades. That s why my most important lesson that I learned about myself during my exchange period is how I can live and schedule my day perfectly, adapted to the I feel at my best. A bad experience is hard to recall, but I d say the paperwork setbacks and delays that I experienced, which sometimes reduced my ability to enjoy the time there. III ACADEMIC INFORMATION All courses I followed were in Dutch (Flemish), which was really nice since now I could focus on the content of the courses, instead of on the language as well. I followed five courses from 4 different faculties: Basisconcepten van ziekte: medische genetica (medical genetics), Persoonlijkheidspsychologie II( psychology of personality II), Sociology I, Sports psychology and Wijsgerige antropologie (philosophical anthropology). I really wanted to try some other courses than I d normally follow. I ve always been interested in medical subjects and biology. I also want to follow a master in medical psychology, that s why I choose the medical genetics course at the VUB campus of health. I d really recommend to broaden your mind with lot s of different courses that interest you. It made it very clear for me what my interest were and what I want to do with my future career.

8 The teaching style of the VUB is primarily theoretical. I mostly had lectures and only two courses had a practical assignment that I had to do in a group and with a partner. I had one oral exam, which was new for me but very common in Belgium. All the other exams were written. I had the feeling that the academic level at the VUB was slightly easier than at Tilburg university. I had five exams after 5 months, instead of three exams each 2/3 months. Even though I expected a really high workload at the end of the semester, I felt like I had to work less hard for it than for the 3 courses in 3 months. Maybe because in Tilburg we really have to rush through all the subject matter while in Brussels I really had the time to let the information settle. I think that works out better for me. I really expected the teachers to be standing high above the students. I heard a lot of other s experiences that confirmed that, but I didn t really notice any of that. All the teachers I had, were really approachable and personal in the way they spoke to me. MY COURSES - Wijsgerige antropologie, AEW, BA, oral exam, 4 ECTS - Sociologie I, AER, BA, written exam, 6 ECTS - Basisconcepten van ziekte: medische genetica, BER, BA, written exam, 3 ECTS - Persoonlijkheidspsychologie II, BNR, BA, written exam, 6 ECTS - Sportpsychologie, BNR, BA, written exam, 5 ECTS