Average Monday to Friday in Rotterdam

My average workday in Rotterdam

It begins with a quick standing up breakfast and a sandwich preparation which I take to the University. Other tasks are all the usual, getting ready etc.

After getting ready, my flatmate and I would on hop on the bikes in front of our house and within 7 minutes we’re at the Erasmus MC parking lot. We would lose a couple of minutes there looking for a free parking space and locking our bikes.

Side note: The weather is pretty expected and unexpected at the same time. The rain is always a risk; quick strong showers happen often. Either get used to getting wet in the rain, or always bring an umbrella/raincoat. It can quickly change and variate between showers and sun multiple days during the day. The temperature is relatively the same throughout the whole year, rarely is it too hot or too cold. It just gets too rainy or too windy.

Let’s return to my day. I’ve locked my bike and entered Erasmus MC. One thing I loved about Erasmus MC is the free to use coffee machine. Hence, free coffee!!! Before each lecture I ran quickly to the coffee machine and grabbed a cup of coffee to keep me concentrated during the lectures.  Usually, the courses were held between 09:00 and 16:00 or 10:00 and 17:00.  Most courses have lectures and computer exercises.

Compared to my previous studies, NIHES master program was completely different in course organization. So at University of Sarajevo I had about 5-8 courses per semester, I believe. The schedule was the same during the whole semester, every week I had a few hours of lectures in every course. At the end of semester, in January and June, I had exams. Meanwhile, in Rotterdam I has just one course for 1-4 weeks, lectures every day the whole day in just one course. After that course is finished, there is usually a study week, and an exam on Friday. The Monday that follows that exam another course would start that culminates in an exam immediately after, and so on. Never before have I heard of such course organization, so feel free to write me in the comments how were your courses organized.

During the mid-day break, my roommate and I would hang out in the library or cafeteria, sometimes even watching a TV show on my laptop with headphones. We rarely or never ate in the cantina, as we always brought our lunches to the University. It saves quite a lot of money. 

The following photo is taken on a Saturday. On weekdays these armchairs are first to get taken during the break, because they are so comfy.

After the lectures, and I’ve cycled back home, my flatmate and I would have a late lunch (when most people eat dinner apparently). From the whole day of lectures and meal preparation / doing the dishes I needed a break. So it was nap time.

Evenings didn’t have a strict schedule, but I rarely went out on workdays. Some evenings I had Lindy Hop lessons or social dancing events, but for the most time I was studying and losing time on my laptop, chatting with my boyfriend,..

Often, my flatmate and I watched TV shows and drank. I think in the first semester we drank too much liquors like Pina Colada. In the second semester we stopped drinking them completely and switched to beer. Some of the favourite picks were Men at Work, The Big Bang Theory, New Girl and Vikings. We had popcorn almost every night, that was our dinner. Another snack favourite was Pepita mix from Lidl.

Not surprisingly, my mom wanted to Skype or at least get a message every day. That could take between 5 minutes and an hour.

So, I think I’ve covered all the most common daily activities. Does is sound too boring for an Erasmus student? I’ve heard there are prejudice in some people that Erasmus is for partying. Well, maybe it was so for the people who were there only for an exchange and didn’t care if they pass the exams. However, for us who were there for the whole master program it certainly was not so. We studied hard, especially that first semester. The second semester we only electives, the rest of research thesis, so we had a big freedom in organizing our time. That is when the spring came, the weekend trips and picnics began, when we became relaxed. In conclusion, workdays are workdays wherever you are. 

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