UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM SBM Exchange Program Fall, 2016 CHIU, Yu Chuan Annie BBA in Operations Management Marketing
I. Monthly Activity Log September Starting from the end of August, there was a series of orientation activities organized by the International Student Network (ISN). Activities including treasure hunt to let us be familiar with the campuses dotted in the city, taking canal tour to sightsee, and visiting famous landmarks. It was a great opportunity to get to know some local students and make friends with exchange students from around the world. However, as there were quite a large number of students, the events were a bit messy sometimes. During the first few weeks upon arrival, I have visited some other cities in the Netherlands, including Alkmaar and Rotterdam. Alkmaar is a traditional Dutch city famous for cheese production and trading in the old times. Nowadays, the city becomes a popular sightseeing spot and has cheese carriers demonstrate tasting and trading process in the town square. It was an interesting trip to learn some history of the Netherlands. Going to Rotterdam was my first solo trip in this exchange and I was lucky enough to meet the other backpackers in the hostel to explore around the city together. Kinderdijk, an UNSCO World Heritage Site near Rotterdam with a collection of antique windmills is definitely worth a visit. Before all the exams, group work and reports piled up, I planned a short visit to Switzerland. Visiting several cities, taking up cable cars up to the Alps, and catching up with a friend who I have not met for more than three years had definitely made this one of the best trips during semester! October At the beginning of October, I got a midterm in strategic management. As there were only three lectures and the materials covered half of the book and multiple extra readings, I found the preparation was quite intense. Apart from this, as I had already planned a trip to Barcelona with friends one week before the final period, I spend most of the early few weeks studying and doing reports.
Barcelona is a city famous for its unique architectures designed by Antonio Gaudi, nicknamed "God's architect". Sangrada Familia, Casa Mila, and Casa Barolo are all his well-known masterpieces. My favorite was Park Geull where we could wander around and appreciate his collection of works. For the both courses I took in block one, Strategic Management and Human Resource Management, the final exams were multiple-choicebased. Strategic Management required group case study every week and HR Management had a group presentation and report at the end of the block. November Right after the exam period, two of my friends exchanging in France came for holidays. Thus, I got more chances to visit museums and explore in Amsterdam and visited another town, Giethoorn. Giethoorn is known as "Venice of the North" with its canal construction that replaces roads. We rented our own boat and gliding along the water channels. Sending my friends off, I had another short trip to Belgium to catch up with friend. For me, Belgium is not an exciting country as the cities look a mostly the same as other European cities. Only the cheap waffles in the city were quite tempting. December Since the weather was getting too cold, I sold my bike on Facebook and took either buses or trams to campus. It took about the same time but the transportation was not cheap there. This month I had a trip to France. Visiting three cities within three days by taking buses for inter-city transportation made this trip the busiest and most memorable one! We first arrived Strasbourg for its world famous Christmas market. Being the first Christmas market I have ever been, this one top my list (ended up going to 7 during the exchange). Then we went to Leon for
the light festival. Though staying in the city for less than 10 hours, the light show was definitely worth the troublesome transportation. Last two days we were just being touristy most of the time. Studying mode was on after the trip. This block I took two courses again, Money and Banking and Corporate Social Responsibility. As a none-econ major student, I found the study was quite difficult as lots of concepts and calculations are new to me. January Starting from the end of December, as I did not take any courses in the third block, I just traveled with my parents and sister. My parents came during Christmas holiday. We traveled to Eastern Europe and had some sightseeing in the Netherlands. In mid-january, my sister and I had a few days holiday in England. II. General Exchange Information Visa Procedures After finalizing the application to UvA, I have received an email from the university in the beginning of June to activate an online account, which come with instructions about visa and application and housing application procedure. For visa application, after submitting requested documents in mid-june, UvA proceeded the documents to the immigration office for me and I received an email with V-number in mid-july with request to collect my visa at Dutch embassy in Taipei in person, as they need to verify my identity with fingerprint proof. Accommodations For housing application, I first chose a monthly rent range. Within few days, I received another email from a housing company, DUWO, for further decision. In that DUWO account, I have a wide range of choices for room type, including single room with private kitchen and shower, single room with shared other shared facilities, shared room, and etc. I have chosen a single
room with shared kitchen and shower with another girl as I feel more comfortable having my own private space. DUWO had provided with a box of kitchen utensils, mattress, quilt, and some other necessities. Orientation Activities Before arrival, International Student Network (ISN) would send invitation email for orientation activities, which was a paid-four-days-sightseeing with all the other incoming exchange students and master students. Activities include city sightseeing, campus introduction, and parties, which were good ways to meet some new friends. International Services & Activities I have registered free airport pick up service with UvA. I am highly recommended with the service as we were directly sent to the registration office for some necessary immigration and housing procedures and the housing company came to that location to pick students up, which saved me a lot of time. Courses Registration Course registration is quite similar with UST system. However, you need to make sure you are registering the right courses, as there were some limitations for exchange students. In addition, you need to make sure there is no time clashes for your midterms and finals as the system would not remind you. Teaching & Assessment Methods The teaching method is similar with courses taught in Lecture Theater in UST. Tutorial s teaching methods varies. For Strategic Management, it was conducted on a case-study-base so we need to have a group discussion and hand in short question answers every week. For Corporate Social Responsibility, we only needed to attend two tutorials. The first tutorial for group formation and choosing project topic and the last tutorial for group debate. All my exams are in multiple choice except there were some calculation questions for Money and Banking.
Finance & Banking I opened a bank account with ING Bank. ING Bank offers free payment for student account and the debit card is convenient to purchase everywhere in the Netherlands. I almost never used paper money during my stay. Social Clubs & Networking Opportunities International Student Network (ISN) organized many activities for exchange students. You can always check out their website or Facebook for latest events or short trips. Transportation OV-Chip Card (the same as Octopus Card in HK) can be purchase at Amsterdam Central Station and you can always top up the card by the machine at any metro stations. The card can be used for all the transportation in the Netherlands, including trains, trams, and metro. A better and cheaper option for going from places to places inside the city is by bike. I bought a second hand bike at Waterlooplein. I quite recommend this place for its great variety of bikes in terms of size and function. Just make sure that the front and back lights are working before purchasing Communication I used pre-paid card of Vodaphone as its data can be used in most of the European countries when I travelled. It is a 30-day card and cost 15 euros for 2.5 GB data and 100 minutes phone call. Sports & Recreation Facilities I treated riding bike to campus for around an hour a day as exercise, thus I did not go to any other sports center or gym. Health & Safety I did not use any of the related services. Food
Definitely try some local Dutch food such as bitterballen, stroopwafel, Dutch fries, and etcs. Stroopwafels were my favorite. Cautionary measures Do not buy a new bike, as the stolen rate is very high and always make sure you lock your bike up properly. III. Items to Bring Apart from personal necessities such as medication, I highly recommend to bring a wind-proof coat for riding bike in wintertime and a sneaker as travelling around Europe requires quite a lot of walking. It is not necessary to bring Asian food or spices, as there are quite a few Asian groceries and restaurants in Amsterdam. IV. Useful Links and Contacts University of Amsterdam Global Exchange http://www.uva.nl/en/education/other-programmes/exchange/exchange.html Courses for Exchange Students in Business School http://www.studiegids.uva.nl/xmlpages/page/2016-2017-en/searchprogramme/programme/2816/188649 International Student Network Amsterdam http://isn-amsterdam.nl/