Introduction. Pre departure

Transcription

1 Introduction My name is Levente Bolyos, I am 24 years old from Hungary. Currently I am studying in the Bachelor's programme of Business Administration and Political Science (BAPS). One of the reasons this course was attractive to me in the first place because it included a mandatory exchange semester in the course outline, with many countries and universities to choose from. The former year BAPS students were so kind to organize an informational evening for us were some of them presented their experiences of their own exchange semester. After that evening we still had a couple of weeks to make our choices of where to go, but during the presentations I already decided that I want to go to the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA) in the Netherlands. The reason for that will become clear in the following sections. Pre departure For BAPS students a pre departure workshop was organized by SU's administrative staff where a lot of useful information was given and people could ask their questions. Soon after, the application procedure has begun to enroll for your courses and housing in the host country/school. Amsterdam was my first choice and I got a place so I could enroll there. The HvA had an online catalogue where they put all the information of the available minors and courses. The minors are a set of courses. Most of the information was available in english and it was pretty much straightforward to select the courses you wanted. All the required information was given you by e- mail, and you could also them if you had additional questions, they usually react quite quickly. The list of English courses was long and offered a number of different and interesting minors. However, unless you select the BPI management or BPI finance (will talk about it later) minors, I recommend you consult with your student advisor at SU so you will not have problems with the credit transfer. For the housing you were required to fill out a survey where you could set your preferences for the room and your price range. Based on that survey you will get a room offer which you have to accept, or you can go and find your own room, in which process I wish you good luck. If you applied to the HvA, you will most likely get a room offer from DeKey (one of the housing companies in Amsterdam) who will, after accepting your offer will require you to pay the deposit and a registration fee for your room before you go, the deadline is around July for that, and for me it was around 520 EUR. Apart from that, before you can get your keys you will also required to pay your first month's rent. If you arrive in mid August, then it will actually be one and a half month's rent, which for me was around 570 EUR (One month's rent was 380 EUR for me which was the

2 cheapest option available. If you ask for a single room, then the rent will be higher but you can apply for support from the dutch local government. Local taxes and supports were not applicable for me but they can be applicable for you, be sure to check everything they send you). After the end of the semester, (<90 days after you checkout) if you have succesfully managed not to destroy your room, you will get the deposit back. You will also be informed that you can register and receive a pickup service from the airport at two different dates during the middle of August. That system is somewhat broken as I registered twice for pick up and received no confirmation or instructions at all. Still, it is very much recommended that you register and plan your departure so you will arrive on one of these dates to make sure you do not miss anything (like the organised registration and the introduction week). Arrival When you arrive to the airport on one of the two official arrival dates you have to find the HvA helpdesk at the Schiphol airport/train station. The complex is pretty big and there was no information whatsoever where the helpdesk would be or how the pick up process would look like, but after asking a few hundred people passing by, I have managed to find after an hour of desperation. (Turned out that instead I could have only asked one person, the right one, I would have found it in 5 minutes. Next time maybe.) You can just go to the train station from the airport and ask at the information desk. At the HvA helpdesk the ISN (The dutch student organisation) buddies were waiting for me and after some waiting, a bus picked us up along with fellow students and took us to the DeKey ( or an other housing company) headquarters where we could pick up some snacks, do every registration necessary (like municipality, visa, dutch bank account if needed, etc) which is not directly related to your school (for those, there will be an other time), and get your keys, if you have paid everything before. It went really smooth and it was actually a very good idea that everything could be sorted out at once at one place. Introduction week For those who participated in the BAPS programme at SU an introduction week was organized where students were assigned to groups and with their senior buddies they participated in a number of activities. The same will happen at the end of August in Amsterdam before the school starts. Not much to say about this, if you liked the events at SU you will love this! It is organised by senior students who has been doing it for years, and they were very nice and supportive. With them you really get a taste of dutch culture and the city. The week and the events were overshadowed by

3 bad weather, but it was awesome, if you do not participate, you miss out big time. Also we got a notification that we can apply for our own personal senior buddy after filling out a questionnare of your interests. This was a very good initiative, but for few of us did not work out that well. Most likely others had better luck with it. Do not be afraid to try. The City Amsterdam is simply awesome. The architecture of the city is beautifully designed and consistent over the old town. The canals and the night lights provide a unique atmosphere and the infrastructure is great as well. The whole city is designed to support biking, and although there is a good public transport system, it is a bit expensive, so you will get a bike. Everyone has a bike in Amsterdam. There is a lot to see in the city, and there is always something to do. Let it be parks to chill at, museums, bars, coffee shops, coffeeshops, restaurants or clubs, the quality is almost always very high (unfortunately prices are too, but probably no problem for swedish students), the people are relaxed, open minded, tolerant and honest. People sometimes think that makes them rude, but it is not true and easy to get used to. Have not heard of, or encountered with any problems with people from Amsterdam,even though there were a lot of Ajax football fans coming and going in the neighbourhood. If classes were held during match times you could actually hear the crowd cheering from the Amsterdam Arena its so close. Everyone speaks a very decent level of english, although that level gradually decreases as you go to the countryside. Biking around the farmlands, dams, forests, fields and small towns in the countryside is spectacular, and it is definitely a must if the weather allows. It is worth stepping out from the mainstream and discover the underground life because that is what the Amsterdam feeling is really about (basically avoid the tourist places and go where the dutch go). The best party I have been to was held in an abandoned church in the middle of an island which is only inhabited by artists and officially homeless people. Although it was around 23 km's away from my place and I went by bike, it was my most unique and one of the best experiences during my time there. Drugs are pretty easy to come by and not that expensive. Too easy if you ask me. Be careful to not to buy anything from street dealers, people have died because they did not know what they bought, or they were misinformed. Before taking something from the more or less legal coffee- and smart shops always ask experts (like the people in the shop), and conduct some research (especially on the doses) before wanting to try any substance. Not everything is for everyone, legal or not. If you are smart though, you can have the time of your life. The School

4 On the first day there was an opening ceremony, combined with lunch and a registration hour where it is possible to do every administrative stuff at once. The HvA is not a university. It is more like the Hogskolan in sweden. It provides a much more practical and hands-on knowledge, and the academic requirements are not that high. Much depends on the courses you select though. You can choose to select your courses for yourself and make your own schedule (though that carries the risk of your exams clashing), or selecting a preset minor for 30 ECTS credits. If you select a minor, you cant pick up standalone courses anymore. I selected the BPI management minor which was the main reason Amsterdam was my first choice. It features a class called BPS (Business Process Simulation) where you get to work at a real company as an employee. We had the option to select the departments we wanted to work in (like Accounting, Logistics, Production, Financial Control, HR, IT, etc) In the company students carry out basic, and depending on their involvement, more complicated tasks in the SAP Master Data system. It is a super professional software used by many of the world's biggest companies and it looks quite dope in your CV that you have experience with it. Additionally students participate in a project as well led by other students. The BPI minor has two variants: BPI management and BPI finance which feature mostly common, but a few different courses. In the BPI management I had Supply Chain Management (the hardest course), Strategic Enterprise Management, Project Management, Human Resource Management and the BPS. Also if you are in the minor you will have your own project which you will manage (yourself or with a co-leader), where you have to lead and motivate your employee students. If you select the BPI Finance minor, you can be a middle manager in the company at your selected department, ( it is not guaranteed though opposed to the Project Management in the other minor ) but then you will not have your own project. The projects can be related to SAP as well. I think it is possible to select BPS as a standalone course without taking the whole minor but I am not sure. In the minor there will be no classic final exams, or a huge amount of reading, but there is much work to do, although it is possible to do most of them during classes. If you play your cards right, you can perform well in your studies and still have a lot of free time, and finish everything by around the 19 th of December, while in other minors or courses there could be exams in January as well. The teachers are mostly good, they are very easy to talk to, easy-going, very helpful and supportive, but sometimes not as you would expect. And this leads to the less good sides of the course. Instructions are often unclear and the whole school seems very disorganised compared to SU. Students have spent a lot of time waiting and not knowing what to do, or what is happening. This is also due to the fact that the classes are too big and the teachers too few. Teachers here like to throw people in the deep water and watch them struggle (It was actually said by one of the BPS teachers). This is partly good as it forces you to think on your own, try to

5 solve hands-on problems and thus improve yourself, but it is certainly not for everyone. I would say, the more proactive you are and the more effort you put into your work, the more the teachers can and will actually help you. For example, SAP is a huge system, it is impossible to know everything about it (even the teachers do not), so do not be afraid to spend time and explore in it while you have the chance. Learning by discovery is the best way to learn. If you just like to go with the flow, blindly following instructions, you will struggle to pass every class, you will not really know what are you doing and at the end you will certainly feel that you have not learned anything here. I saw some people like that. For me it was completely different, I learned a lot about business processes, people, myself and was able to improve a lot, and gained experience I would have never gotten elsewhere. It also tells a lot about the teachers mentality here that apart from the usual semester-end questionnaire, during the last class everyone who was present had to say some positive and negative aspects about the course with all the teachers present. They really appreciated the feedback and seriously considered constructive criticism, with no hard feelings, so the minor will most likely even better by the time you get there. I think that choosing this minor for some people could be a mistake, while for others it could be a huge boost to their future career. For example after our project was done, my co-leader and I was offered an internship for our master thesis by the company we worked with in the project. Financials The providing and handling of information about the Erasmus+ grant both by the sending institution and the Erasmus office was extremely poor. I participated in the Erasmus + program because it was mandatory and it was told that the grant will help cover the costs. I have never participated in an Erasmus program before. However, when selecting the receiving institution and country, to apply to, no one told us when we get the grant and how, even though I asked. The occurring costs were not in line with the received grant at all, (neither in timing nor in amount) and there was no information available about that. As I live in an already difficult financial situation, this caused me a lot of liquidity problems and huge stress. No one told that the Erasmus+ grant could be months late. No one told that it will not be nearly enough to cover housing expenses. No one told that it will arrive in two installments, with no guarantee of receiving the second one. By the time I received the first installment, (in late October!) which was roughly 890 EUR, I had to pay roughly 1450 EUR only for housing (and I selected the cheapest option possible of course). For the rest of the semester I already had to pay around 1070 EUR for housing and still no one knows how much the second installment will be and when it is coming (late February earliest?). Make no

6 mistake, although I believe that the grant could have been more, I am grateful that I got anything at all, and the whole program have been a wonderful experience, and was totally worth it. However, it could have been even better though, and much less stressful, if information about this was given properly.