The Dutch Experience

Hogeschool Utrecht

Laura Cooke was an exchange student to Hogeschool Utrecht, The Netherlands, in 2005.  This story was first published on the 14th August 2005. 

Despite having a rather shaky start to her exchange programme, Rhodes' Laura Cooke has settled in well at Hogeschool van Utrecht, in the Netherlands, to the extent that she has described her two months there as "possibly the best two months I have ever had". Being an exchange student, she says, has allowed her to gain a far richer experience of the Netherlands than travelling there independently would have allowed.

Laura Cooke phoning home

Laura is studying Philosophy 3 & Journalism and Media Studies 3 at Rhodes. She is currently at the Utrechtse Hogeschool in the Netherlands on an exchange programme.

Upon her arrival In Utrecht central station, at 9:30 in the morning, Laura discovered she would have to wait until 5 p.m. for her accommodation to become available. Laura says: "This was a horrible day and I could not help wishing that I could hop back on the plane and go back to the world that I knew and trusted. Why oh why did I leave the sunny, summer weather of South Africa for the grey, miserable and winter world of Utrecht, NL?"

This first impression, however, was not a lasting one, and Laura remains extremely positive about her experience in the Netherlands. "The difficulties of my first day," says Laura, "were easily resolved and are now but a hazy memory."

Since then, Laura has greatly enjoyed her time there, and is especially relishing her exchange student status. She says: "There is something special about being an international exchange student. It lets you live in a country without the stigma of 'tourist' being slapped onto your forehead, but also affords you the status of exotic foreigner. Within weeks I was riding around on a Dutch bicycle as if I had been doing it for years and I constantly had Dutch people asking me for directions!"

Despite having so easily established herself within the Dutch lifestyle, Laura does not that she has in any way "become part of the local woodwork", or been in any way cut off from the particular aspects of the international student experience. She explains: "There is an extensive network of international students that organise events and parties that allow you to meet and interact with other internationals. This is a perfect opportunity to mingle with people from all over the world and develop a global circle of friends. The fact that you are from another country means that people are genuinely interested in talking to you about where you are from and what your country is like. They are also keen to show you their side of the world. Often I find myself sitting in a room full of people and not one shares the same accent."

It is this opportunity to experience not only the culture of your host University, but also to engage with other international students from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, that Laura feels is at the heart of the international student experience, and is part of what has made Laura's time in Utrecht so memorable. Laura has taken full advantages of her chance to explore Europe and interact with other cultures. She says: "In the two months that I have been in the Netherlands I have gone to Belgium with a Belgian, travelled with Canadians to London, visited Germany and intend to go hiking in Italy with a Spaniard. This intermingling with different people is the essence of the international student experience and I cannot think of any other situation that allows for this special interaction."

Dutch culture, too, is something that she feels she has experienced in ways that would be impossible if she had travelled to the Netherlands in any other capacity. Being a student, she acknowledges, is a "special position" that has allowed her a unique perspective from which to engage with the Netherlands. A great advantage of being a student, she explains, is that "you don't have to worry about getting a job, or where you are going to stay or what you have to do. This special position allows you the freedom to settle down in the country of study and really absorb the culture and the people."