During my academic exchange, I attended Utrecht University: University College Utrecht (UCU), located in The Netherlands. Founded in 1998, UCU is a Liberal Arts and Sciences college that creates a unique atmosphere of community and participation through small-class learning, a wide range of on and off-campus activities, and a diverse student and staff population. Similar to an American-style college campus, the classroom, student accommodation, staff offices, and social facilities are located on the same campus, allowing students to maximise their academic and extra-curricular potential.

UCU provides a three-year Liberal Arts and Sciences bachelor programme for their full-degree students. Liberal education offers students the flexibility to experiment with a wide range of subjects and classes to obtain a well-rounded education while challenging their beliefs. Their classes are in a small-scale, interactive, discussion-based format to promote diverse thinking and self-learning. Moreover, group work and alternative assessments like writing papers and presentations are utilised to test the student in a multifaceted manner.

I enjoyed the chance to engage in academic debate and the small group assignments since they allowed me to listen and learn from other students and meet new friends. The need for time-management is needed at UCU due to the high amounts of reading and self-studying required in preparation for each lesson. Personally, I highly appreciated the quick feedback from the teachers after each assignment and all the support from my tutor when planning my studies at UCU.

During my time at UCU, I took three courses: Medicinal Chemistry, Mechanisms of Disease, and Molecular Biology of the Cell II. All of these courses pushed me out of my academic comfort zone due to the content’s difficulty, but I enjoyed trying out alternative assessment methods. For instance, I got to conduct my own drug design project for my Medicinal Chemistry course, which gave me insight into the real-life application of drug synthesis.

Throughout my academic exchange, I was fortunate to meet many people from different backgrounds and cultures. These included students from the host university, other exchange students, and people on my travels. With UCU being such a diverse environment, many of the full-time students were not from the Netherlands; even if so, they had many international experiences. Being in an environment with such a diverse group of people equipped me with the opportunity to become exposed to different types of people and ideologies, allowing me to gain a worldlier way of thinking. Since the teaching method at UCU was significantly different to that of HKU, the professors were accommodating and helpful in my situation.

There was a wide range of student-run non-academic activities. One of my fondest memories was partaking in the introweek, organised by the student association to introduce all the exchange students and new students to each other and the existing students. This opportunity gave me a platform to meet new people and get to know Utrecht and the school on a deeper level. Moreover, I travelled around Europe during the semester, allowing me to observe different places and cultures first-hand.

At the beginning of my exchange, settling down was pretty tricky since the Netherlands’ weather and culture were really different from that of Hong Kong. Also, with COVID regulations, we could not go to restaurants and visit many sites due to closure. However, with the relaxation of COVID regulations, this would no longer be a major difficulty. Still, keeping a positive and open mind is vital when trying to assimilate into a new place.

The opportunity to spend the semester abroad in the Netherlands was tremendously enriching socially and academically. Travelling around Europe gave me the chance to gain cultural awareness and create once-in-a-lifetime memories. Through this, I have met a diverse group of people of different cultural and academic backgrounds, where we got to exchange experiences and ideas, in which I got to learn how other people approach different situations; It was definitely an eye-opening experience.

Not only have I learned many academic and study skills from the alternative teaching method I experienced at UCU, but I also learned how to be more open-minded and confident. Before my exchange, I found it difficult to initiate conversations with strangers since I am introverted. Still, during my exchange, I was exposed to many situations where I had to talk to strangers and make new friends, hence, having to be more assertive.

I thoroughly enjoyed my exchange! The application and credit transfer processes were smooth and encountered no significant difficulties. However, at times, it was difficult to contact the host university, most likely due to the time difference and the lack of staff on their end.