Netherlands: Kinderdijk

We went Kinderdijk using the group discount! It’s a really long and cumbersome ride there because it took us about 4 hours to get there with LOTS of transfer in between. 

After arriving in Rotterdam, we walked 30 minutes to the Erasmus bridge and took the waterbus to Ridderkerk, and then transferred to a smaller boat which brought us to Kinderdijk. Then just follow the crowd to the windmills (about 15 minute walk). There’s nothing much to do there except to take photos and chillax together with the windmills. It’s quite nice la, but if you are really into nature then it’s better to go there early. By the time we reached it was already 3pm so we didn’t have much time to explore the area. (Plus we went on a day which was super cloudy 😦   )

The ticket is inclusive of the waterbus and boatride, and costs 12.50 euros / pax. You can just pay for the ticket when you are in the waterbus itself 🙂

Germany: Aachen

We went to Aachen on one of the Saturdays via bus 50 from Maastricht. It took us about 1 hour to reach Aachen from Maastricht. The bus ride costs about 6 euros one way.

Basically Aachen is a very small town and there’s really nothing much to do there. The main attraction for us was the Lindt chocolate factory 🙂 Do download offline maps or just use Google maps to navigate yourself there. It took us about 30 minutes to walk to the chocolate shop from the bus stop. The chocolates here are cheap but most of them expire really fast, so if you really want to buy, probably postpone the trip to a few weeks before you return to Singapore 🙂

The rest of the time was spent exploring the city centre, but basically the city centre looks kind of similar to the one in Maastricht.

Maastricht: Saint Pietersburg Caves

A group of us went to the caves on a Saturday. We rode our bikes there which was about 20 minute ride. (and yes, there’s place to park your bike there)

The cave tickets cost about 6 euros each and I would say it’s worth the price. The tour itself was about 1 hour, and the caves were interesting as it was massive. The most interesting part was when we walked in total darkness in the caves (by feeling along the walls) and it’s here when we could totally feel it literally what it means by “seeing the light at the end of the tunnel”. 

We also walked around the fort area (did not pay to go up) and basically took photos there. It’s a nice place to go if you have afternoons free 🙂

Groceries!

There are a few big groceries shops in Maastricht: Aldi, Jumbo, c1000 and Albert Heijn.

Aldi is the cheapest and it’s relatively close to the guesthouse. The only downside is that it offers a very limited range of products. It’s like your mama shop la basically.

C1000: c1000 is like our NTUC.

Jumbo/ AH: Our version of cold storage. The prices are slightly more expensive than c1000 but you can probably find more stuff here.

There is also an oriental supermarket in the city centre, but the prices are of course more expensive than those in Singapore. You basically can get anything from the oriental supermarket la. 

Oh yes, except for oriental supermarket, remember to bring shopping bags with you! Shopping bags cost more if you buy from the supermarkets directly.

Transportation within Netherlands

Get the OV Chipkaart from the station, or at the tourist office in the city centre. The card itself costs 7.50 euros but the one being sold at the tourist office is 15 euros with 7.50 euros worth of credit.

Alternatively, you can get the personal OV Chipkaart (which allows you to get a pass for 50 euros/year and get 40% discount of the ticket during off peak period). Just buy it from the NS dutch website (I used google translate to change it to English), and the OV Chipkaart will be free.

The 40% discount is valid for the cardholder and 3 other people. You’ll recover the cost of the pass   if you are going to Amsterdam/Schipol Airport at least twice during your exchange (assuming 2 people go at all times).

NS does offer discounts periodically so just check their website regularly. For example, we had the group discount for 10 people and everyone paid 6.40 euros for a return trip to anywhere, with no limit on the transfers/time Oo

Oh yes, and if you want to check on any bus/train timings or basically just plan trips within Netherlands, use 9292.nl/en. They also have an app for it but it requires Internet connection (and most trains have wifi 🙂 ).

Bikes

In Maastricht/Netherlands, practically everyone cycles. For exchange students, the easiest way to get your bike is from Jules n You, which is a 5 minute walk from the SBE. The fixed price is 65 euros if you are not a member, and for us who got the bikes from there, we had to wait for 1-2 weeks before collecting them. Some of us bought bikes from Facebook groups, so you would probably want to check it out.

For the bike locks, lights and bags, get those at Brussel Sports shopping centre. Bike locks/lights are cheap at Hema (costs about 8 euros for the lock and 3 euros for both front and back lights), and my bag costs 4 euros too. It’s much cheaper than getting those from Jules n You.

And if you are planning to go for a day trip, you can either park your bicycle in front of the train station (only recommended if you are going in big groups as you can chain your bikes together) or at a shop near the station (costs 1.25 euros and they open from 6am to around midnight). 

ING Bank Application

In the first week of school, the school will arrange ING to come down to process bank applications. This application is necessary for those who chose to transfer money over. After you apply to ING, they will send activation codes which you will need to bring to the nearest branch (will be stated in the letter). Remember to opt for Internet Banking during the application process so that you can just process the activation code + online banking simultaneously when going to the bank.In total, you will receive about 5 letters, of which around 3 are the important ones.

Also, the cost of opening the account is free but maintaining it costs about 5 euros for 4 months I think. The bank card is quite useless except for withdrawing money because it’s an ATM card which doesn’t allow for most online transactions (except for Dutch websites). And they do not allow exchange students to apply for any debit/credit cards 😦

Oh, and closure of the account takes about a few days but they will return your bank balance on the day you close the account.

Courses – Period 1 & PBL

Here’s a summary of courses I took, for those who might be interested:

1. International Competitive Analysis and Strategy : Mapped to NTU’s strategic management

Content: Feels very much like economics but it’s more qualitative and focus much more on the strategic parts such as game theory and Porter’s five forces.

2. Assurance and Auditing: Mapped to assurance in NTU

Content: Basically just assurance and auditing. The readings are intensive and crazy and hard to understand because basically you are just reading journal articles for every lesson, and it’s about 2-3 article PER lesson. That’s like 4-6 articles per week.

More about the PBL:

For myself the PBL approach is not very relevant since I’m taking modules in accountancy/economics. However class participation is sort of necessary. I myself had to force myself to talk just to gain participation points. Participating 4-5 times per lesson should be safe for most modules.

Exchange Matters: Visa and Air Tickets

Thought I would just update the whole exchange experience:

Visa Application

Back in June, I sent the relevant documents and transferred the sum of money required to the visa office. (I did not use the bank letter in the end because I got my bank letter too early) Then in July, I went to collect the visa sticker at the embassy in Singapore and that’s about it 🙂

When you reach Maastricht, the school will inform you within the first 2-3 weeks to collect the residence permit card. Oh yes, and after 1-2 weeks time, you will need to go for the tuberculosis test which takes a freaking long time to queue but less than 5 minutes for the test. It was at this ulu area across the river and students were basically left cold in the car park of some random building queuing for the test. -.- I myself waited for around 2 hours. In the cold.

So that’s all for the visa stuff!

Air Ticket

Most of us bought Finnair tickets because it had student price for 2*23kg which is great in comparison to other airlines. I got mine for about $1,400 (usual is $1,300) because I had to change the return date due to circumstances.

 

 

April Updates

Just a few updates on Exchange Matters which may help in future students going on Maastricht Exchange:

1. Bank Letter

The bank letter is actually required for the visa application rather than application package (for NTU purposes). However, I applied it in advance just in case the school really needs it. For me, I headed down to a DBS Branch and made my request. You just need to fill in an application form for the request and they can either mail to you/collect personally at their branches. I made the request on 5 Apr, and as of today, have yet to receive the letter via mail. Do take note that the request itself cost ~S$24 for administrative fees.

2. Housing

Booked a P-Building double room with my friend via Maastricht Housing. We first had to pay a registration fee of ~S$60, and then pay a deposit of ~S$850. At the point of payment, we had trouble paying through paypal, so I transferred the money via online banking instead. The payment was processed pretty fast, I transferred the money on 7th Apr and the booking was confirmed the next day.

3. Courses

Most of my courses are confirmed already (by NTU; not sure if I will have any problems getting clearance from Maastricht); I will be taking:

• Auditing and Assurance (M,1)
• Strategic Management (M,1)
• Business Valuation (M,2)
• STSS Module (B,2)
• Minor Module (B,3)

M stands for Masters, B for Bachelor’s, and the number represents the period in which the course is offered.

I am still deciding whether I should extend my stay and clear my minor module overseas. Probably will wait till results of this semester is out, which means I probably can’t purchase the air tickets yet 😦