My First Month Abroad
Hello, my name is Kyle Richards. I am a finance major at the Foster Business School and am currently on exchange finishing up my studies to graduate in the winter. I grew up on the eastside of Lake Washington in Kirkland and have spent 4 years at UW and now am spending a quarter abroad in Rotterdam, Netherlands studying at Erasmus University.
I chose to come to Rotterdam because of the great reputation Erasmus has regarding its business program and to travel and experience all that Europe has to offer. Rotterdam is in a great location to be able to travel from. Amsterdam is less than an hour away by train and both Germany and Belgium are less than 2. You can also find cheap airfare leaving from Schipol Airport (35 min. from Rotterdam) if you want to travel to countries that are a bit far for the train.
After living in Rotterdam for only 5 weeks I already feel at home here. The city doesn’t have the typical look of a lot of other European cities with the old buildings and architecture, but there is a lot to do and it is very easy to get around with the tram and bus system. The university also has put on many school functions not only for exchange students, but for all business school students in general.
I have also met a lot of new friends from all over the world here. The University put on a 3 day excursion when we first arrived for all the exchange students which helped all of us get to know each other. Most students live in the same area of Kralingen which is nice because it’s easy to hang out with each other, and because its only about a 10 minute walk from campus. About 10 of us have started to travel over the past few weeks including going to Brugge, Brussels, and Amsterdam. We are planning to go to Munich next week to catch the end of the October Festival.
So far I am very glad I made the decision to study abroad. I’ve met a lot of very cool people from all over the world and am getting to experience a lot of different things and places.
You can email me at [email protected] if anyone has any questions about Rotterdam, Erasmus U, or just studying abroad in general.
