Every year a lot of Synergy members decide to study abroad. Some of them have returned to Nijmegen the last weeks. I was curious about their adventures and experiences, so I made an appointment to speak with some of them. In the first part of this mini-serie I spoke with Sophie van Doorn.
Sophie is a third-year IBA student and she went to Zürich last semester. She went to Zürich for 5 months and she studied at the university of Zürich. She had several reasons to go to Zürich, which are all related to her dream to start her own business in watches. Her goal in Zürich was to learn the language and building up a Suisse network.
I asked Sophie about her expectations of her study in Zürich: “I didn’t have big expectations of my study abroad, because all the people I know went outside Europe for their study abroad.” She expected to travel less than other people because travelling in Europe is more expensive. So, her plans were to travel in the weekend and study during the rest of the week.
“I made some trips during my study abroad, most of these trips
did I make because I played hockey for the team of Zürich.”
There wasn’t a lot of choice in the elective courses, because most of the courses were given in German. Beside the small choice in elective courses, Sophie had a lot of spare time in her first months because her first exams were in December. During her exam period she was very busy, and she spend a lot of time in the library to study for her exams. When I asked Sophie about her trips Sophie starts to smile: “I made some trips during my study abroad, most of these trips did I make because I played hockey for the team of Zürich. Suisse is a small country, so I played hockey on an international level and had several matches in Germany and Austria. Beside the hockey trips, I went on ski trips several times .”
Nowadays Sophie still has a lot of contact with the people she got to know in Zürich, most of this people are Dutch, because there are a lot of Dutch students in Zürich. Beside these friends she still has a lot of contact with her hockey team. I asked Sophie what she learned during her study abroad: “I learned to become entrepreneurial and independent, but the biggest thing I learned was to make choices. And of course, I learned a lot at the University of Zürich.”
“Just as Nijmegen captures a place in your heart, Zürich does too.”
Sophie was clear about my question if she should recommend studying in Zürich to others, her answer was: “Definitely yes! Just as Nijmegen captures a place in your heart, Zürich does too.” Sophie describes Zürich as a young and dynamic city with many students. There is one big street with a lot of clubs and bars. Sophie had also an advice for everyone who wants to study abroad: “Don’t forget to enjoy, because 5 months are over before you realize.”
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