Initial Impressions of Rotterdam

Guest Post by: Matthew Richardson, a Foster School of Business student studying Accounting and Finance. In Spring 2019, Mathew participated in the Foster Exchange Program at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

After visiting my family in England for a few days I made the journey across the English Channel via the train and made it to Rotterdam. After getting settled into my apartment, I spent the first few days exploring the university and city.

Market Hall

The Cube Houses

A few of the notable features of the city included the Erasmus Bridge, the Cube Houses, the Market Hall, and of course my favorite the De Kuip Stadium. As a huge soccer fan, I was ecstatic that I was able to watch Feyenoord Rotterdam play a league game. There was a great atmosphere at the stadium and luckily, they were able to win 4-0 and put on a great performance. Further, right next to the University is where another Division 1 team –Rotterdam Excelsior, plays their football. They are a smaller club and unfortunately they got relegated this season; however, I was able to watch them play and they have a great fan support and I am sure they will get promoted back to Division 1 shortly.

Feyenoord Stadium or “The Tub”

The University was only a short walk away from my apartment, which allowed for a nice start to the day. Luckily, it hasn’t rained much since I have been here, which was very surprising, but welcomed. Erasmus University has a nice campus and it is located a few kilometers outside of the city center. The University accommodates just under 30,000 students; however, the campus felt quite small for that many students. The only complaint I had with the University was their online registration system. They had numerous difficulties with registration which resulted in re-registering for my classes and group workshops the day before the quarter stated, which resulted in unnecessary hassle. With that being, said, everything else has gone well, and I have found it very easy to communicate to everyone at the University. I had two Dutch students in one of my group workshops and they said they started learning English at age 9. I was surprised that Dutch students start learning English that early. Overall it has been a good beginning to this adventure with many exciting things to look forward to!