Gap Year in Rotterdam

During my gap year I went to the Erasmus School of Economics for the entire academic year. I took all the courses from the master's program in Policy Economics. Universities in the Netherlands work very differently than those in France; we had far fewer hours of lectures per week and more self-study time. The university is very international, and the campus is amazing. The courses were extremely interesting and applied; I especially enjoyed the classes during the second semester, which they call seminars: Intensive courses of around10 ECTS, where you get to go deeper into topics that interest you. I would particularly recommend the seminar on Policy Evaluation.

The city of Rotterdam is a very interesting . It was bombed during WWII, so the city center was rebuilt and is now very modern which makes it different from other cities in the Netherlands. There are many bars, parks, and things to do around the city. It is also very close to Amsterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, making it easy to travel around the country since it is quite small. The housing situation is very complicated; rent is generally very high, and many people struggle to find accommodation. I would definitely recommend people start looking for accommodation as soon as possible and not leave it to the last minute.

Rotterdam is very international, and people are generally very open to immigrants. Almost everyone speaks perfect English, which is super useful and helps in getting a student job without speaking Dutch. During my exchange, I worked as a waiter in a Thai restaurant.