Study programme at WUR: Management and Consumer Studies
Study period exchange: 19-02-2018 until 22-06-2018
Country (exchange): Poland
City (exchange): Warsaw
University (exchange): Warsaw University of Life Sciences
2. Motivation for exchange
Why did you choose to go on study exchange?
I went on exchange for the experience of living in another city, in a different country.
What is the reason you chose for this country/university?
When I started searching for Erasmus universities I looked for universities with interesting courses. For me it was also important whether it would be expensive or not. In my search I passed Italy and Spain immediately, because I wanted a certain kind of structure, and as I heard from experiences, in these countries the organisation in universities is not good. So I found Warsaw University of Life Sciences, and the Social sciences courses where interesting to me. Later I found out that I could also choose courses from different faculties so I almost completely changed my courses to courses such as Precision Agriculture and Forest ecology, as I wanted to learn more about what these courses where about, and whether I would be interested to do my master in one of these courses.
3. University and studying
Could you provide some general information about the followed courses?
For every course you have one lecture per week, and sometimes some more lecture. With 6 courses, this would give me about 14 hours of lectures per week, and I planned in such a way that I would have weekend from Friday afternoon till Wednesday morning. There is almost no preparation for these courses. Academic level is lower than Dutch standards but lectures were still interesting to me, because I choose different courses than the courses in my own field of study in Wageningen. The only time I had to ‘study’ was in the last weeks of the semester where I prepared some presentations. I studied one hour for a 6 ECTS course, it’s quite easy you can say.
What is the culture of the university?
In general the teachers are interested in you, they know you’re in Poland not only to study but also to travel and party, and ask you about what you think about Poland. European Student Network (ESN) organises a lot of events, so every week there is at least one party, and next to that they organise some trip to a few Polish cities. So don’t worry about not meeting any people!
You’ll find out that the university is not as much organised as we are in the Netherlands. Information is not always given very clear and final exams are just appointed one or two weeks in advance.
What does the university offer the student additionally?
On campus there are about 5 canteens/café’s in which you can get meals and coffee. There is a swimming pool on the campus but rules are quite strict I believe. There is a small gym in the dorms but no one really goes there. Instead most people buy a student card which gives you access to a lot of different gyms in the city. There is a laundry room in every dorm, which costs like 2 euro every time (with drying). You have to register for this though, and most of the time a week or more in advance.
4.Housing-travelling-living
What are the possibilities for housing?
You can live on campus in dorms, as about 80-90 percent of Erasmus students does, which is not as luxurious as your own room, as you have to share your room with one or two others. It is €100/month, living in dorms on campus. Also the receptionist (where you have to hand in the key for your apartment) is not the most welcoming person generally speaking. Living here is not ideal, but as it is only temporarily, I would say that it is doable and worth the experience. Sports facilities are not that much available, somebody told me there is some limited fitness equipment in the dorms, for which you’ll have to pay.
What is the culture of the country like?
Polish cuisine is a lot about meat, with potatoes and stuff. I think that Warsaw citizens are not very open to foreigners, in the rest of Poland it is better.
5. Free time
Do you have general tips and tricks about leisure time?
Every weekend I would visit another city/hiking area in Poland, which I would plan at the end of the previous trip. I used different kinds of transportation, sometimes hiring a car, other times the train or bus.