Exchange Report School of Business and Economics

Mandy King BBA in Information System and Finance Spring 2020

Part 1. Monthly Activity Log

February 2020

I landed a week earlier in Amsterdam, to accompany my friend who is also exchanging in Maastricht University with an earlier orientation date. The dorm we stayed inn, M Building, wasn’t available to move in yet, so we booked a hotel near the train station. Maastricht is a small and cute town that is of great walking distance to explore around.

It is a three-hour train trip from Amsterdam to Maastricht, it is highly probable that you have to transfer at least once, so it is great to have companion so you won’t be too stressful with all the luggage and trying to get the right direction. Dutch people speak fluent English, so communication is not a problem and you can easily ask for help too.

I joined some orientation activities organized by ISN like speed friending and the welcoming party, I have meet more new friends from other country and also from my home country. It is a great place to start meeting fellow exchanges students, I think it is worth participating to have some fun.

During the third week of February, there is carnival in South Netherland, and the school will have a whole week of holiday. You should definitely dress up and join the fun.

March 2020

I travelled to Italy for 7 days during the carnival holiday. It has become a more intense timing during half of the trip since the outbreak cases of covid-19 is starting to climb.

However, we did careful precautions along with face masks and hand wash, also minding the social distance during our trip to Venice, Florence, Vatican and Rome. Although quite some European had made unfriendly gestures to us, chanting for us to go back to our Asian countries or pretending to cough when passing by, we tried to enjoy quite a fruitful trip. God bless Italy.

After coming back to Maastricht, the situation of the pandemic has worsened, most of the exchange students has decided to fly back to their home country, and the exchange program basically came to an halt.

I had my exam of the first period on schedule at the end of the month, but plenty courses has postponed their examination until further notice, which would be June or July.

April 2020

I have managed to book a flight back to Taiwan in May. Netherland is suffering quite a high number of confirmed cases, and the city is on semi lockdown with no restaurants, public places or cafés open. Class remained online, not much to talk about.

May 2020

Continuation of self-quarantining, not much to talk about, class is quite a mess with sudden switch to online teaching, the examination process for the second period is unclear and the evaluation unclear as well. Not a smooth transition.

But having more time under quarantine has made us try to make more home food and have cultural exchange with friends who also live in the guest house.

Part 2. General Exchange Information

Visa Application Once your status as an incoming exchange student at the SBE is confirmed, the Visa Office of Maastricht University will send you details of the visa application procedure. It would include forms to be filled out and supporting documents to be provided, including proof of financial means.

It is advisable to reply to these requests in a timely manner, as the process takes a lot of time back and forth confirming. After being sure that you have submitted all required documents and pending for the result, I advise you to register for a timeslot at the Dutch Immigration at your location as soon as possible, as it is sometimes too late to book an appointment when you wait until your final visa is issued, with no available timeslot left for you to pick up your visa before departure. Do take consideration into the date of your departure and make sure that you can secure an appointment before the date.

I went to the Taipei office to submit further documents, photos and passport to obtain the Visa. You will need to reserve 3 to 4 working days for them to return your passport with visa. This process is time consuming; thus, it is

advisable to act in a timely manner to ensure you could obtain your visa in time for your exchange studies.

Orientation Activities A compulsory of a 2-day orientation is held by Maastricht University. On the first day, there are student mentors who will show you around the university and the city. On the second day, you will have a mock PBL lesson with the mentor to help you better fit in the learning style of UM.

Additionally, there is an association called ISN, which is similar to the International Students’ Association in HKUST. They also hold numerous orientation activities such as bar hopping, speed friending and more. It is easy to find information of them as they will also email you details of their association and events.

International Services & Activities ISN provides student discount and packages to its members, including free luggage space with Ryan Air, discounted bus tickets, or student package with local gyms. They also organize trips during the semester and a lot of social events.

Accommodation Most of the exchange students live in UM Guesthouse. There are three buildings (P, C, M), which are located next to each other. P and C Building are managed by Maastricht Housing while M Building is managed by SSH.

I lived in M building. Most of the rooms are single rooms and just a few double rooms, both comes with an option to have or don’t have a toilet inside the room. The kitchen and shower rooms are shared, but I think it is tidy and clean overall. However, no utensils are provided in the kitchen, so you have to buy your own. I shared my room with a roommate without a toilet, and the rent is around 400 euros per month, the room was quite spacious. For the other buildings, all rooms in P building has a private kitchen with cooking utensils equipped and a refrigerator. C Building also shares the kitchen.

M Building is signed by monthly contract and P, C buildings are booked on date, specifying the arrival and departure date and charge by day. Overall, M building is cheaper by just a little bit, and it is very popular, so be sure to book a room as soon as they have open up vacancies for the time period.

Course Registration 1 Semester is divided into 2 periods. A maximum of 2 courses can be registered each period. To register courses, go to UM portal. All instructions will be sent to your email by the school with clear steps that are easy to follow. It is possible to change your registered courses, but you have to do it as soon as possible because nothing can be changed after the registration deadline.

Teaching and Assessment Method Maastricht University deploys a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Method. It requires active participation in class and quite an amount of preparation before each session. You really have to read through the materials beforehand to exchange meaningful conversations in class, the workload is quite heavy.

Sports and Recreation Facilities Gym is not included in the tuition fee of Maastricht University. They do have a UM Sports Centre situated across the riverside from SBE, next to the psychology department. It offers different package starting from 30 euros per month.

Addition to the university facility, there are plenty private gym around the city. ISN has a discounted package with a yoga classroom, and there is a church-turned-gym facility near M Building that offers monthly subscription at a reasonable rate which I ended up being a member at. Other than that, there are also free basketball courts and tennis court next to the buildings at the Guest House.

Finance and Banking Do bring some cash at first or prepare a credit card because it takes some time to open up a bank account. However, take notice that some stores in Netherland do not accept MasterCard or Visa, so do still bring cash. You can only open an IMG account after you receive the BPN number from the city hall, which is around 2-3 weeks after school starts, remember to book an appointment before that so you can secure a timeslot and open up the account as soon as possible.

In my experience, I did not open an IMG account as I did not feel the need to. I applied for a Revolut card, which is an online bank from the UK. It is easy to use and apply, and it also sends you a physical card that works like a debit card. You can easily put money into the account, and if you travel around Europe, you can use the same debit card as it exchanges the currencies automatically for you, the exchange rate on it is reasonably good.

Social Clubs and Networking Opportunities As mentioned before, ISN is a huge organizer for various events, and a great place to network with exchange students. Social clubs in MU often has a membership for one year, which is

not really suitable for exchange students, but I do know people that joined the girls’ basketball team and had practices with the team.

Health and Safety I have bought student insurance from AON, including health insurance, it is convenient and the rate is about 3 euros per day. Remember to register for a doctor after the insurance starts. As for the city, Maastricht is a pretty safe town, so is all Netherlands.

Food I personally think the cost of eating out in Maastricht is around the same in Hong Kong. But the options are definitely limited. It is a great place to start learning how to cook by yourself, as the supermarket is very convenient and affordable with great options of ingredients, Jumbo and Albert Heijn are two supermarkets near to the guesthouse.

Transportation For train, do check online for e-stores that sells group tickets or day tickets when you are travelling long distance, for example going from Amsterdam to Maastricht upon arrival, the fare is much cheaper than directly buying from the official channel. NS is a convenient app that shows the train timetable and for looking up itineraries. For buses, having an OV-card is essential, it works like the octopus card in Hong Kong.

When travelling across borders, Flixbus is a great choice to nearby countries with an unbeatable price, and Ryan Air is an economic airline that offers cheap tickets.

Climate In February, it is definitely still cold and sometimes snows, do bring gloves and big coats. I did not stay until Spring or Summer came so I can’t tell you what it is like in warmer time due to Covid-19 and quarantine.

Communication Netherland is a very English-friendly country where you will have no difficulty communicating in English in most cases.

Cautionary Measures In February, it is definitely still cold and sometimes snows, do bring gloves and big coats. I did not stay until Spring or Summer came so I can’t tell you what it is like in warmer time due to Covid-19 and quarantine.

Part 3. Items To Bring

Cash Credit card Passport Photos for Netherland Residence Card Plug adapter

Big Coates Gloves Hats Summer Clothes Water-proof Boots Laptop Slippers Cooker Hair dryer Chargers Stationery Notebook Calculator Medicine

Part 4. Useful links and Contacts

UM guesthouse https://www.maastrichthousing.com/

Maastricht University SBE https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/education/exchange/sbe

Student Portal https://login.maastrichtuniversity.nl/adfs/ls/

SSH housing https://www.sshxl.nl/en

International Relations Office Email: iro-incoming-sbe@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Studydrive https://www.studydrive.net/

Good luck in Maastricht!