Studies in the Netherlands are a little different from Finland. I study chemistry in here and I would say it’s more demanding and independent here since we already have to do our own research projects and get a lot of background information on our own. There is not that many lessons present in school but there is a lot of school work that you have to figure out on your own. Teamwork is the main studying method, which is a good thing, because it teaches communicating skills and you don’t have to do it all on your own. You’ll get to learn what it’s like to work with different kinds of people.
Since I did not have that much school, I had a lot of spare time. I used my spare time traveling because it’s so easy to get around in Europe. I travelled to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Czech Rebublic, Denmark, Belgium and Hungary. Most of the places I went by a train. I higly recommend buying an interrail ticket, if you have a lot of spare time like I did, and go around a little trip through Europe. Of course I travelled through the Netherlands as well, but it’s kind of similar everywhere, compared to for example Germany, that has a lot of very different cities. Besides the traveling, I still have a lot of appreciation to the Netherlands and its bikes, boats and canals, because they are sort of a trademark of this country. I would recommend this country to everyone who is interested!
I already compared a little bit of Finnish school to the Netherlands, but other things than studying, you should get used to a very tiny lunch. People in here eat only a sandwitch during lunch, which can be a little culture shock almost in the beginning. I would say that you’ll get used to it quite soon, but it’s so different compared to Finland, since we usually have a whole meal and sometimes even a dessert at lunch.
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