After writing about my first impressions and some stories about the social life here, I'll dedicate this post to the reason why I'm actually here - my studies. Studying here at Erasmus Universiteit doesn't feel totally different compared to my previous experiences in Switzerland, but still it's somehow different.
First of all, the studies here are of course affected by the fact that I'm on exchange. My (and as well those of other exchange students) are not the same like they were back home. It's not only about the studies but as well about visiting place, enjoying oneself, going out, meeting friends. Therefore I don't feel as dedicated to my studies as I was some months ago. Nevertheless, we all try to find the right balance between having fun and studying seriously. Although it's sometimes hard to be motivated I believe that we all manage to get on the right track.
Secondly, the approach of teaching is slightly different here. You concentrate yourself on less courses but those are more intense, time consuming and of course important after all because you'll get 10 credits for a master elective and not 3 to 6 like in Switzerland. The result of this is, that we're having around 12h classes per week, assignments to do in 2 days and projects for several weeks plus exam and all those in around 7 weeks and for only one class. And as we're only about 17 students in my class, participation and interaction is more important.
Another thing you can notice here is, that there's no bell ringing all the times. This means that's it's pretty much up to the professor and the classe when and how often they're taking a break. My lecture starts at 9am and usually lasts until 1130/1200 with only one break of 15min. In Switzerland you would have at least three breaks of 15min in this time. And - important to know - there's no academic quarter here. If it says 0900 on the timetable, it is actually 0900 and not 0915. I'm glad that I thought about that point already before the term started and took that into account on my first day of lectures...
As we get 10 credits for one elective I'm only having two courses during my exchange - the first started in the end of january and will last until mid-march and the second class will be from end of march till mid-may. As the course I intended to take for the second block was cancelled I had to choose a new topic, which means I'm now in a course called "Marketing, Technology and Innovation" and will afterwards participate in "Event and Tourism Marketing". Sofar, the topic of my course is pretty interesting. We're discussing topics like how new technologies and markets evolve, how you can use new technologies for marketing purposes etc. Along with lectures we're having to big projects. The first is Google Online Marketing Challenge where student teams around the globe compete against eachother. We're have to plan an AdWords Strategy on Google for a real-life company we had to find and will run our campaign for three weeks. The second project is a Product Development Concept where we have to come up with a concept for creating new products...
First of all, the studies here are of course affected by the fact that I'm on exchange. My (and as well those of other exchange students) are not the same like they were back home. It's not only about the studies but as well about visiting place, enjoying oneself, going out, meeting friends. Therefore I don't feel as dedicated to my studies as I was some months ago. Nevertheless, we all try to find the right balance between having fun and studying seriously. Although it's sometimes hard to be motivated I believe that we all manage to get on the right track.
Secondly, the approach of teaching is slightly different here. You concentrate yourself on less courses but those are more intense, time consuming and of course important after all because you'll get 10 credits for a master elective and not 3 to 6 like in Switzerland. The result of this is, that we're having around 12h classes per week, assignments to do in 2 days and projects for several weeks plus exam and all those in around 7 weeks and for only one class. And as we're only about 17 students in my class, participation and interaction is more important.
Another thing you can notice here is, that there's no bell ringing all the times. This means that's it's pretty much up to the professor and the classe when and how often they're taking a break. My lecture starts at 9am and usually lasts until 1130/1200 with only one break of 15min. In Switzerland you would have at least three breaks of 15min in this time. And - important to know - there's no academic quarter here. If it says 0900 on the timetable, it is actually 0900 and not 0915. I'm glad that I thought about that point already before the term started and took that into account on my first day of lectures...
As we get 10 credits for one elective I'm only having two courses during my exchange - the first started in the end of january and will last until mid-march and the second class will be from end of march till mid-may. As the course I intended to take for the second block was cancelled I had to choose a new topic, which means I'm now in a course called "Marketing, Technology and Innovation" and will afterwards participate in "Event and Tourism Marketing". Sofar, the topic of my course is pretty interesting. We're discussing topics like how new technologies and markets evolve, how you can use new technologies for marketing purposes etc. Along with lectures we're having to big projects. The first is Google Online Marketing Challenge where student teams around the globe compete against eachother. We're have to plan an AdWords Strategy on Google for a real-life company we had to find and will run our campaign for three weeks. The second project is a Product Development Concept where we have to come up with a concept for creating new products...
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