Posted in 2016
Sander Senhorst, University of Maryland, Post 1: Living and eating
Hey everyone, I’m Sander and currently I’m studying at the University of Maryland. As you might be able to tell, I am not alone, there are so many students from Delft here! When I chose for UMD i had no idea there would be this many other Delft students, but I will try not to bore you with any duplicate stories.
So; America. a culture so big that it is nearly unavoidable. As foreigners we have plenty of stereotypes for these citizens of the land of the free, but not many have actually experienced their culture from within. This was my purpose for studying here, and so far it has been an enlightening trip.
One immediate connotation you might have with American Universities is campus life. Living at walking distance from my classrooms was new to me, but the sense of community a dorm provides meant that I got used to the situation with ease.
I have been placed in an apartment with six flat mates, all Americans, one of whom I also share my room with. In the beginning I was anxious to see how this would work out, as I expected Dutch people give more value to their privacy. I am glad to be able to say I get along with my roommate very well, and at times I barely notice there is someone else in my room. I am also very glad that I got placed with Americans rather than international students, as this allows me to better experience their ‘way of life’. Perhaps I got lucky with my housing assignment, as I have heard stories of people having to switch rooms due to either roommate or location issues.
Another facet to campus life is undoubtedly food, a topic close to my heart. Because my apartment has a kitchen, I was not required to get a meal plan: a subscription to the all-you-can-eat dining halls available on campus. Because I was here to properly experience American campus life, I chose for the meal plan nonetheless. Americans are infamous for their slightly exorbitant serving sizes, however the dining hall is all you can eat. This means you get to choose how much you wish to eat yourself, for better or worse.
The food in itself is not amazing, but also not as bad as you might expect. I am slightly disappointed in the variety though, it feels like the available vegetables and meats are nearly the same every day. There is the option to spice it up yourself by visiting a build your own pasta, stir fry, or vegan booth, which are usually nicer, but this still will not fill a week’s worth of food.
The dining hall is one of the places to meet my friends after much studying and a long day of work. Not everyone joins at the same time, so if you come early people will be joining you while you are already done eating. All this friendly interaction often changes a quick meal into a one and a half hour interaction. If you have an exam the next day this might not be the great, but after all life is not just for studying.
Occasionally the dining halls will provide a special day to change the rhythm a little. For example, last week there was a buffalo wings special (I was a big fan), and there was an opportunity to eat freshly fished crab for a small fee. I had never eaten crab before, so the process of removing the meat from their shells was very exciting to me. Perhaps I got a bit too excited, because as it turns out, crabs are still very sharp posthumously, which left me with some small cuts.
I’ll keep you updated with some more topics I come across!
Sander Senhorst
(PS: To the Delft students currently studying in Michigan: You’re going down this Sunday, go Terps!)
Bart Hutten, University of Maryland, Post 1
Hi everyone!
My name is Bart, I am a 21 year old Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management student at Delft University of Technology. I’m lucky enough to spend a semester in College Park in the States! I’ll try to give you an impression of my experience here in a few blogposts, feel free to email me if you have any questions related to studying abroad in the USA.
Before I came to Maryland, I went on a vacation with my family through the American Southwest. The national parks (Yosemite, Grand canyon, Bryce canyon) that we visited were definitely the highlights of this trip for me. We then flew to the east coast where my family dropped me off in College Park and my study abroad time started! The first few weeks at the university were simply amazing. I met many interesting people and there were a lot of fun events and parties going on. To top it off, I went to NYC with a Dutch friend who also studies at Delft University of Technology.
The Americans I met so far all seem really nice and more open than the Dutch. Everybody is in for a conversation about anything, so making new friends is pretty easy! Many of them I met haven’t been outside the states and were very interested in cultural differences between Europe and the USA.
A few weeks ago the First look Fair event was hosted on the big mall right at the center on campus. All the sports/social/ clubs were there and I applied for almost 10 (mostly sports) clubs!
I am too busy with classes to try all the new sports though (lacrosse, American football etc.). Unlike Delft, attendance is often mandatory and they check it with ‘surprise’ in-class quizzes. These quizzes can be a pain if you didn’t pay attention in class and the teacher suddenly hands out a quiz for you to make. In addition to these quizzes, I have many weekly homework assignments which are all graded. It works well if you keep up with it though, I had my first midterm last week and I found that I did not have to study as hard for it as I would have in Delft.
The first two weeks of classes is called the add/drop period, since many students tend to oversubscribe on classes (they have a lot of electives they can take towards their major!) and use the first two weeks to see if they like the courses and drop/add some. I found out that I did not meet the prerequisites for one computer science class, so I was able to swap it with another engineering course.
The weather here in September was pretty nice. Sunny and just as humid in Delft, you only notice that more because it tends to be hot. Around 35 celsius in the afternoon is quite normal for this time of year and it is often ‘sticky’ at night. Luckily my apartment has airconditioning which makes life much more comfortable.
Naturally, I am also following this year’s elections more closely than ever, but I’ll leave that and other topics for future blogposts.
All the best from College Park 🙂
Bart
Bernice Oosterling, University of Michigan, Post #1, Fall Break
Hi everyone!
I’m a senior in Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management at the TU Delft. Thanks to the Global E3 program I’m able to experience an American semester at one of the world’s best universities for engineering: University of Michigan!
Ann Arbor Michigan has been my beautiful hometown for almost six weeks now.
As soon as I got in Ann Arbor I moved into my dorm, which is located on North Campus (the Theatre and Engineering campus).
My first week at the University of Michigan was already a very exciting week! It was a week full of introductions and orientations and new experiences. The Michigan Welcome week is not only filled with official orientations but it’s also an introduction for sports clubs, sororities, fraternities, cultural clubs etc.
Despite my busy schedule I decided to join the marketing team of Michigan’s largest theatre group MUSKET! Joining one of the student’s clubs is one of the best things to do to get some hands on experience and new friends.
I am lucky that I’m studying at U-M in fall semester cause it’s their football season and Michigan owns the largest stadium of the US (“the big house”)!
Football games take place every Saturday in the month of September and October. Our very first game was against Hawaii and we won with are score of 63 vs. 3.
Me and my friends took the change to experience a real American football game! Michigan’s Wolverines get pretty excited to support their team. The whole city is filled with Michigan fans and supporters. It’s amazing to see how an entire city supports their own team!! Everyone is dressed up in their Maze & Blue outfits.
Here in Michigan I’m enrolled in junior and senior Industrial Engineering and Operations courses. After my first week it was very clear to me that the American universities are very different from the Dutch ones. Instead of having “just” finals or projects you’ll have a lot of homework. Now six weeks later I’ve already turned in more than 30 assignments and I just finished my first midterm. Luckily the degree of difficulty for these assignments is a bit lower than back in the Netherlands. But therefore, they also expect students to get A’s for almost every assignment.
Most of my classes here are very small and therefore most of the professors know the names of all of their students which is very nice.
Besides my courses, my friends and I try to explore Michigan and its surrounding states during our weekends. Last weekend we went on a road trip to the Sleeping Bear Dunes. This is the Northern area of Michigan. It’s a beautiful area to camp, drive and hike!!
In two weeks our Fall break will start and we will spread our wings to Chicago, Illinois! That’s something to look forward to during my midterm week!
Cheers,
Bernice
Eveline, University of Maryland, post 1
Hi everyone!
My name is Eveline and I am a twenty year old Industrial Design Engineering Student at the Technical University of Delft. This semester I am studying at the University of Maryland in the United States.
About six weeks ago I arrived on campus, one day before orientation started. I flew to Washington with a girl from Delft that I already knew from my student association. The morning after we arrived we got up early to attend the exchange orientation program. It started off in a gorgeous building on campus called ‘Tydings Hall’ with a lecture on the University of Maryland. That day we were introduced to little facts about the university and the facilities on campus. We got divided into little groups to tour the campus and have lunch. After a full day of orientation activities the study abroad office had organized a ‘Welcome Dinner’ for all the exchange students. I met a lot of new people whom I still do a lot with.
Orientation lasted for four days, and after the first weekend things started getting serious and lectures started. It took me and my friends a while to get used to the very different educational system here: choosing your own classes, building your own schedule, all the homework, quizzes and midterms. I am working very hard to maintain all the assignments I have to hand in and keep up with all the readings, as you never know here when your professor will ‘surprise’ you with a quizz!
Even though I am very occupied with all the school work, I am still enjoying myself a lot here. There a lot of things to do around campus, such as sports and joining clubs (there is a club for basically ANYTHING you could ever think of, and you are free to join any one of them!). I notice that the engineering students at this university have more work to do than most other majors at this university.
Washington is very near by, it takes about 25-40 minutes to travel to the city center either by train or uber. I have visited the city four times thus far, and me and my friends have also travelled to Philadalphia for a day. Next weekend we are visiting Baltimore and Annapolis, and in a few weeks we are going to New York. Busses here are very cheap, and there is so much to do not too far away from the university.
Of course I have also witnessed a few traditional football games already. The stadium on campus is huge and the games are such an experience: cheerleaders, marching bands, food and all the university merchandise you can possible imagine are there to make the whole day even more impressive than it already is. American schools sure do take their athletics seriously!
Talk to you soon!
Eveline
Daniel Okret, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Post #3: The Fall, Thanksgiving and finals
Hi y’all,
It is starting to get cold in Madison! And with the cold come the most beautiful season in the Midwest, the Fall! The trees slowly start changing colour until there is an astonishing mix of yellow, red and brown. This creates a fairy tail like scenario which is ideal to hike and be outside before the real cold arrives. One of the must do’s during this season is go to the zoo! There is an awesome zoo in Madison which has all kinds of interesting animals like tigers, lions and even polar bears. And the best part is, its free! So the zoo also became one of my favourite running routes.
During the month of November there is only one thing in everyone’s mind. That is how long until Thanksgiving. This is the holiday where the whole family gets together, eats as much turkey as possible and watches American Football. As I mentioned before, I have family living in Chicago so I spent Thanksgiving with them. There were two things that amazed me about this holiday. First of all is the amount of food there is. It is exactly as in the movies. The second one was the warmth and cosines everywhere. I found it very similar to the Christmas feeling in the Netherlands.
After Thanksgiving eve, which is always on a Thursday, some friends and I rented a nice apartment in the Loop (centre of Chicago) and spent the weekend there. The city is very lively and has beautiful architecture. It is amazing to just walk around and see what’s going on. On one of those walks we went into a musical theatre to see what was playing and ended up going to an incredible Sherlock Holmes show.
The weeks after Thanksgiving are really busy. I was trying to enjoy the last part of my stay as much as possible while finals were getting closer. So the balance between fun and studying was leaning more and more towards studying. However, that is the same for everyone else so it isn’t that bad.
That’s all for now folks!
Cheers
Daniel Okret, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Post #2: Life in Madison (go Badgers!)
Hi again,
Since I got in Madison I have been very busy! On the first weeks there are many introductory activities and events for the new students. This is a great opportunity to get to know what the university has to offer next to academics. I joined the Hoofers Sailing Club and became an instructor there. They have the biggest college fleet with over 100 hulls! The club organizes socials every Friday in an ideal setting to meet interesting people. Being an instructor is very fun and was an ideal student job due to its flexibility.
One of the activities that I enjoyed very much were camping trips. I went camping several times. There are many nice camping spots near Madison. The only downside is that they can only be reached by car. The most special camping trip I did was to Nicolet National Forrest, which is a four hour drive to the north. We stayed at a camping spot near Anvil Lake. During this trip we visited a small town festival in Phelps. This was one of the most American experiences I had so far!
Another fun thing that I got to be part of is Rush. This is the period where fraternities and sororities organize many nice activities to attract their new students. The activities vary from group studying with pizza to parties and from sport day’s to film night’s. It was like being in one of those American college movies!
Madison has a very good athletic program. As many of you may know, American Football is a very important part of college life in the US! Almost every university has its own team and are very proud of it. Wisconsin has the Badgers, which is an excellent team! I watched the first game on the TV, and did not understand why everyone was so excited about it. The game was kind of boring, with only 13 minutes of actual football during three and a half hours. The rest is mostly commercials and discussing scores of other games that did not interest me.
However, after watching a game at Camp Randall (their football stadium) I finally got it! The energy in the stadium is hard to describe, but even not being a football fan it is hard not to get intoxicated by it! When there is football going on, everyone is completely focused on and supporting the players. The marching band and cheerleaders provide the necessary entertainment while there is no actual football going on. So there is a constant flow of cheering, singing and dancing. I recommend going to as many games as possible!
Of course that even with such a busy agenda there still is serious studying going on. The courses here are not necessarily harder than at the TU Delft, but they have more compulsory parts. Most of the courses I attend have a weekly homework assignment that amounts from 15 to 25 percent of the final grade, and some courses even have participation counting for 10 percent. Therefore, it is important to stay on top of the studies and be sure to participate during lectures and office hours.
That’s all for now folks!
Cheers
Preparations and arrival, by Daniel Okret, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Hi everyone!
I am an Offshore and Dredging Engineering student at the Delft University of Technology. In addition to my regular studies I am participating in the Honours Programme Master. This fall I will be doing an exchange semester at the University of Wisconsin-Madison through the GlobalE3 programme. I chose this university because in addition to being well ranked, I believed it would provide me with the real American experience. The cheapest way to arrive in Madison is to fly to Chicago and take a bus from there to Madison (this safes you up to 500$!!). Because I had family in Chicago, this was even more ideal. After spending a long weekend in Chi Town my uncle drove me up to Madison. This was a very pleasant two-hour drive.
Before coming to the US I thoroughly researched the housing possibilities. The most common ones are living at dorms (which is really expensive) and living on apartments which are usually off campus. Because I was interested in the most American possible experience, I decided to live in a fraternity house. I really recommend this as I got to know many interesting people very quickly!
Upon arrival at the Frat all my housemates were very surprised with the amount of stuff I had with me. They were expecting many boxes and furniture, so one suitcase was a lot less than usual. My housemates were very welcoming and fun, and my roommate (it is very common to share a room in the US) was a cool American guy. They were all very interested in me and being the only foreigner at the house I got a lot of attention.
The first day my roommate and some housemates gave me a tour of the campus. It is huge and located on the beautiful lake Mendota! There are several supermarkets, museums, café’s, restaurants, sport centers, a football stadium with capacity for 80 thousand people, medical centers and much more. So there is almost no reason to leave the campus.
That’s all for now folks!
Cheers
Jenneke Bijpost – University of Maryland, Post #3 , Home Sweet Home
After a trip of over five months in America, I came back home. At 7:15 am, I arrived at Schiphol Airport. It was a strange feeling to be truly back. Fortunately, I have a lot of good memories to look back on.
The American Thanksgiving is at the end of November and a friend invited me over to celebrate this American holiday with her family. It was a completely new day of celebration for me and it was a wonderful thing to experience. We travelled to a city near New York to meet the whole family. Everyone in the family brought something to eat, for example; turkey or stuffing or mashed potatoes. There was so much food!
After Thanksgiving it was almost exam week so I had to study a lot. After a long weekend in New York in the beginning of December to see the big Christmas tree and the Brooklyn Bridge, I had to work very hard until the last day.
I even had two exams the last day before winter break. Fortunately they all went pretty well and I can be content with my grades. That evening I had to say goodbye to all my friends. Hopefully I will see some again, since they want to visit Europe or already live in Europe.
During winter break I went to Florida for a road trip. Starting from Orlando in the East, to the South in Miami, to Tampa in the West.In Tampa I stayed with a friend for a week and spent New Years’ Eve with her and her family. This was the first time I saw the ball drop in Times Square on television.
I am so grateful for last semester. I would recommend studying abroad to anyone who has the chance. You’ll learn, see and do so much in just several months!
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