ERASMUS+ STUDIES UU Report

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1 ERASMUS+ STUDIES UU Report address faculty/college optional; only if you don t mind students preparing for study abroad contacting you directly s.w.b.stoffelsen@students.uu.nl Geesteswetenschappen level bachelor s master s PhD name study programme Literatuurwetenschap destination city & country name university abroad start date end date Budapest, Hungary ELTE University 01 / 09 / 2015 (dd/mm/yyyy) 30 / 01 / 2016 (dd/mm/yyyy) exchange application process PREPARATION The paperwork fo applying for an Erasmus grant was more than I expected: I had to fill lots of paperworks and collect many signatures from my home university as well as from the receiving university. However, when you are an accurate student, this does not have to be a problem counselling & support at Utrecht University The ( ) contact I had with Utrecht University was always very clear and supportive.i quickly get a comprehensive answer to my questions. academic preparation I didn't do any 'academic preparation', and this was also not necessary. language preparation The language at ELTE for a lot of courses is English, therefor I did not do any extra preparation besides taking the Language test, which is necessary for the Erasmus+ grant. finances I excpected Hungary to be a cheap country, but because I didn t had a student job or something like that in Budapest, I I spent more than expected. But I think this is normal, because you do a lot of extra things, such as nice trips through the (neigbouring) countries etc. study programme (content and organisational issues) STUDY ABROAD PERIOD The organisation in Budapest is very different from that at Utrecht University. I had to multiple times before I get a reply, making an appointment with the coordinator was hard because he was very busy all the time and sometimes it is unclear where I had a lecture, or when it would start. academic quality of education activities UU Erasmus+ report deadlines: 1 March 2016 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2016 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange page 1 of 2

2 The academic quality at ELTE university is a bit lower then that at UU. Maybe it is because I am an Erasmus student, but it is very easy to get a high grade: sometimes only attendance is enough to pass a course. However, for me the semester system was new, and therefore I had to get used to taking lots of courses at the same time (7 a week, all 1.5 hour). Therefore I am happy that the academic quality wasn't that hard: it gave me more time to discover the city, meet new people and get used to the semester system. counselling & support at receiving university abroad When I succeded in making an apointment with my coordinator, he was very helpful. Also the mentor-system is very nice: you can always ask questions to your mentor, about the city or the university, and they are very helpful. transfer of credits Most courses where around 4 ECTS, which means you had to take around 7 courses to get 30 ECTS (which is the same as a semester at UU ). welcome & orientation programme STUDENT LIFE ESN (the Erasmus organisation) organises a lot of nice activities, where you get to know the city and your fellow students. There were almost 2 activities every week, so more than enough to do. Also the welcome programme was nice, we got a guided tour all over the campus. accommodation I found my room through SRS, an organization which helps you to find a room. It was nice to arrive and already have a room, instead of searching for it first. But therefore I didn't now my other flatmates, fortunately they turned out very nice. leisure & culture Budapest is an amazing city. It is really beautiful, there is a lot of history and historic buildings. The thermal baths are great, just as its nightlife. There are multiple options to do sports and in the summer you can chill in the nice parks. I would really recommend to go on Erasmus here. suggestions/tips I would suggest to search for an appartment after you arrived, because some appartments are really old and badly maintaned, something you often do not see on facebook photo's whatsoever. CONCLUSIONS would you recommend this university/destination abroad to others? please explain I would really recommend Budapest, it s the best city I have ever been. It has everything to have a wonderful semester, and it is not that expansive. The University is nice, but the level of education is not that high. When you are searching for more 'intellectual challenge' maybe you should not go to central Europe. But when you want to have an amazing semester, meet cool people and hang out in cheap and cosy bars: defenitely go to Budapest. do you have any additional advice or comments? Go on Erasmus! UU Erasmus+ report deadlines: 1 March 2016 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2016 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange page 2 of 2

3 ERASMUS+ STUDIES UU Report e mail address faculty/college optional; only if you don t mind students preparing for study abroad contacting you directly I.M.Kleij1@students.uu.nl geosciences level bachelor s master s PhD name study programme Human Geography and Planning destination city & country name university abroad start date end date Budapest, Hungary Eötvös Loránd University, ELTE 05 / 02 / 2015 (dd/mm/yyyy) 30 / 06 / 2015 (dd/mm/yyyy) exchange application process You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! PREPARATION The application process is quite some time ago, but I remember having a hard time choosing a city. I ended up making a list of pro's and con's and I'm very happy with my choice. Look at the courses they offer in english, to see if there are many and what they are generally, but don't choose a place for specific courses they offer because this might have changed once you arrived. the rest of the application processed was filling in papers and went fine. counselling & support at Utrecht University counselling from the Utrecht University was good, I usually got replies to my s fast which was very nice and I never had any problems they couldn't help me with. academic preparation I didn't need a lot of academic preparation because I am taking an extra semester to write my thesis, so I don't need the credits I got in Budapest, also I had enough "profileringsruimte" left to do the courses of my choice also in other faculties which was very nice. language preparation I didn't do any language preparation as there are enough courses at the university in English and Hungarian is a very, very dificult language. There is a free option of a language course during the semester for erasmus students, which was fun and usefull but my Hungarian isn't much better than asking the way and exchanging greetings. finances Hungary is a cheap country and living there is cheaper than in holland. A room can be rented from somewhere around 200 euro maybe even less and you shouldn't have to pay more than 300 for a nice room in the city centre. Eating out is much cheaper than at home, but buying grocaries is almost comparable to the prices here. A 0,5 liter beer should cost between 300 and 600 forints which is between 1 and 2 euro's so going out is very cheap. make sure you get the "ov vergoeding" next to your erasmus grant and life shouldn't be too expensive. UU Erasmus+ report deadlines: 1 March 2015 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2015 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange page 1 of 3

4 study programme (content and organisational issues) STUDY ABROAD PERIOD In Budapest I attended a mix of both geoscience and social science courses which were organised differently. In social science we could attend all classes in the first week to see which ones we liked most and fit best in our study programme. This was very nice because you don't end up choosing that sound different on paper than they are in reality. A problem with this was however that only a certain number of erasmus students could apply for a course so you had to choose fast to get into the course. For geosciences we had an afternoom where the lecturers explained what their courses were about after which we could choose. There were only limited courses in geoschiences because there were only 6 erasmus students, and some of them were similar to courses which I had already followed in Utrecht which lead me to choose social science courses which I ended up enjoying very much. academic quality of education activities The acedemic quality differed very much per course. I had some courses which were too easy and some which were quite hard. The majority of the courses were easier to pass than they would be at home, I did however learn a lot, expecially in the courses that had their focus in Hungary and Easters Europe as these courses give you a very different viewpoint. I also had a course given by an old ambassador of Hungary which was very interesting. counselling & support at receiving university abroad the Support of my receiving institution was very good. I had some problems in the beginning as I was enrolled in two faculties but this worked out fine. My contact person from the geography department was very helpful and would be available and reply to my s almost right away, which is an advantage of having only 6 erasmus students. The contact person of the social science faculty was much harder to reach I luckily didn t have much to do with her, but it took a long time for her to reply to s transfer of credits I have a transcript of records from my receiving university which states my grades and credits, as far as I know they will all be added to my study results from Utrecht. welcome & orientation programme STUDENT LIFE The ESN community of the ELTE university did their best to make us feel at home. I went to a speeddating activity on the day I arrived and we also had a whole orientation day, a party and a pubcrawl in that same week so it was really easy to make friends. they welcomed us very well also later on in the semester interesting activities such as day trips to cities, hungarian movie nights and my favorite pub quizzes were organised. accommodation An easy way to get accomodation in budapest is through SRS an agency specially for international students. However these rooms were generally more expensive than if you would find them yourself. through erasmus and "rooms in budapest" facebook pages a lot of cheaper rooms are offered, but make sure these adds are no frauds. leisure & culture Budapest is a great city for both leisure and culture. the seventh district is great for going out and also going for dinner, and the best place to live and the spas are great. The city has a lot of nice historic buildings and good museums, the house of terror is very nice. the margit sziget is great for summer picknicks and to go running on the running tracks. suggestions/tips UU Erasmus+ report deadlines: 1 March 2015 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2015 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange page 2 of 3

5 go travelling, Budapest is centrally located in europe and the countries around it are easy and cheap to reach by bus and train, also wizz air flies everywhere from budapest, and there is a lot to see in Hungary outside of Budapest. If you have a choice try living in the 5 th, 7 th or 6 th districts, withing the ring of the 4 & 6 tram, this is the best location. CONCLUSIONS would you recommend this university/destination abroad to others? please explain yes, I would definitly recommend this university and destination. Budapest is a great city, it is cheap to live and great to travel from and it has a perfect combination of nightlife and culture, go see all the ruin bars, not just szimpla, the ELTE university is the biggest university in Budapest which gives it the advantages of a large group of international students and a lot of choices in courses for them to choose in english. do you have any additional advice or comments? Save this UU report for your own records and send it as attachment to verslagen.internationaloffice@uu.nl within 30 days after finishing your study abroad period and in ANY case before the final deadline! UU Erasmus+ report deadlines: 1 March 2015 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2015 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange page 3 of 3

6 faculty/college ERASMUS+ STUDIES UU Report REBO Please use Tab to go to the next (text) box. level bachelor s X master s PhD name study programme Private Law destination city & country name university abroad start date end date Budapest, Hungary ELTE University 2/2 /2015 (dd/mm/yyyy) 3/ 7 / 2015 (dd/mm/yyyy) exchange application process You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! PREPARATION I had to get some forms filled, and some signatures of people from the international office. It was not much work, but I would recommend to start straight away, when you have decided to go on Erasmus. counselling & support at Utrecht University I had to deal a lot with the International Office of our university, instead of the office of my own faculty. That was because I was on Erasmus on one of the two places that has been offered by the university instead of the faculty. I always got quick response, and they helped me where possible. Because sometimes it can be quiet unclear what has to be done, but they are more than happy to help you. academic preparation I was going to write my thesis while I was in Budapest. Herefore I prepared a lot of literature in the Netherlands to use for the writing part of my thesis. When I came here it was a too complex case to find also a thesis tutor here in Budapest, so I've decided to follow some extra courses to get enough ECTS. language preparation None, when I was here I applied for a Hungarian Language Course. But to be honest, this is quiet useless. You learn (in my opinion) useless sentences for day to day life. You will probably stay for one semester, so the knowledge you will gain about the knowledge in language course is very limited. It is one of the most difficult languages in the world, people say. finances Before I worked a bit, and I got my loan from the government. Expect to pay the same amount as you spend in the Netherlands, but instead of cooking you can go out for dinner everyday. Dinner is around 5 7 euro's Beers (0,5l): 1 euro (for the cheap bars, which are fun in the beginning) 2 euro (for nice places) Rent: Is around 200 and 300, it is recommended to rent in de District VII area (jewish quarter), because this is near to the nightlife. UU Erasmus+ report deadlines: 1 March 2015 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2015 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange page 1 of 2

7 Save this UU report for your own records and send it as attachment to within 30 days after finishing your study abroad period and in ANY case before the final deadline! UU Erasmus+ report deadlines: 1 March 2015 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2015 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange page 2 of 2

8 UU Report form Erasmus e mail address faculty/college optional; only if you don t mind students preparing for study abroad contacting you directly hans_balfoort@live.nl Faculty of law level bachelor master PhD name degree programme Law destination city & country Budapest, Hungary name host institution and/or Eötvös Loránd University company/organization purpose Erasmus grant courses research work placement departure date 06 / 09 / 2013 (dd/mm/yyyy) return date (dd/mm/yyyy) 15 / 01 / 2014 You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! preparation exchange/placement application process As far as I know, the Eötvös Loránd university had two available places for UU students. I had some experience with Hungarians and the Hungarian culture, because of an European Exchange program of secondary schools. This experience gave me a little headstone compared to other students who applied I guess. The application process went fast and I didn't experience any problems. Soon I heard that I was accepted. counselling/support at home university Note that this exchange, at least it was in , is part of a central exchange. Every faculty has its own international office, for questions and documents to be signed you need to be at 'de Uithof'. I missed a lot of important information since I barely recieved s with relevant information. Luckily, I had a friend who went abroad as part of a faculty exchange. She forwarded a lot of information via . Support at home university therefore was not very satisfactory. I really recommend reading the website carefully and keep in touch with other students and ask them about deadlines etc.! academic preparation There is no need for academic preparation specifically. At least, I needed to have 120 ECTS, but there are no specific requirements. language preparation Courses at this univeristy are given mainly in English, some are in German and even a few are in French or UU Erasmus report deadlines: 1 March 2014 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2014 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 1 of 3

9 Italian. For English courses, a B2 level is required and recommended. I didn't have language preparation and after all, this was not necessary. However, I took part in the Hungarian language course during the semester in order to make myself understandable in supermarkets and on the streets. Hungarian is an extremely difficult language which requires a lot of practice. However, i really enjoyed taking part in this course. finances The Erasmus Grant will help you pretty much in covering costs and expenses. Life is not very expensive in Budapest but depends on the change rate, which changes a lot is my experience. study/placement abroad period study programme/work plan (concerning content and organisational issues) Subjects at the faculty of law are worth 5 ECTS. In order to get the minimum of 30 ECTS, 6 subjects are required. There are many more lessons and group meetings than in Utrecht. However, my experience is that 6 subjects at the same time is not a problem. academic quality of education/placement activities If you look to the world ranking lists of best Universities, you wouldn't find this ELTE university in the highest segments. Quality of education is not as good as in Utrecht and you will find out that the latter is doing extremely good in comparison with other universities. However, quality seems to be dependent from the teacher or professor. Those teachers with academic degrees are teaching subjects which are of high quality. Other subjects raise questions about acadamic quality, mainly those focussed on social issues. counselling/support at host institution/organisation From the very beginning, I recieved s and useful guidelines from this University in Budapest. I have to admit that there are some very helpful people waiting for you to help you with all your problems and questions. A very special thanks to Mariann Botlik who arranged everything for every student. All the information needed was send well in advance. There is nothing more to do but to give them a huge compliment. transfer of credits student life welcome/orientation programme There are several introduction events for new students. Orientation day, opening ceremonies etc. They try to give you a fair image of the university and how studying in Budapest will be like. I recommend going to those events, at least you will meet a lot of students there who make your stay abroad more comfortable. accommodation Accomodation for me was relatively hard to find, but it depends on your demands. There are cheap apartments UU Erasmus report deadlines: 1 March 2014 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2014 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 2 of 3

10 for students with low standards which are very easy to find. Budapest is a very beautiful city with extremely beautiful architecture everywhere throughout the city. Your appartment will most likely be in such a building with cultural and historical value. Be aware of landlords, since some of them can be corrupt. I recommend looking on facebook pages where outgoing students are sub letting their rooms. leisure/culture There are many many things to do in Budapest. Nightlife is diverse, and has unlimited possibilities not just in the week end, but every day of the week. Like I said before, the city is very beautiful containing buildings and houses of around 200 years old which gives the city a formal and 'rich' impression. suggestions/tips conclusions would you recommend this host organisation/destination to others? please explain I would definetely recoomend this institution. There is no better possibility studying in a vibrant city full of possibilities than Budapest can offer you. A beautiful city with a rich history at only 2 hours and 30 euro's from Eindhoven. I would say that you should try this. Subjects are diverse and very interesting and many of them are a worthiful complement to your study in Utrecht do you have any additional advice or comments? Once chosen, try to enjoy as much as possible. Time flies, its over before you can imagine. Please save this UU report for your own records and send it to verslagen.internationaloffice@uu.nl within 30 days after finishing your study/placement abroad period and in ANY case before the final deadline! If you fail to submit the UU report in time, we have to claim back the Erasmus grant. UU Erasmus report deadlines: 1 March 2014 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2014 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 3 of 3

11 UU Report form Erasmus e mail address faculty/college optional; only if you don t mind students preparing for study abroad contacting you directly FrancienvanOjen@msn.com Geoscience level bachelor master PhD name degree programme Sociale geografie en Planologie destination city & country Budapest, Hungary name host institution and/or Elte,Eötvös Loránd University company/organization purpose Erasmus grant courses research work placement departure date 04 / 09 / 2013 (dd/mm/yyyy) return date (dd/mm/yyyy) 21 / 01 / 2014 You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! preparation exchange/placement application process It takes a few weeks to get all the paper work ready. You really have to sit down for it, but it is not difficullt. You just have to do it. And you have to remember you have contact with a university a few hundred kilometer away, so it can take a long time before you get answer on s etc. counselling/support at home university They answer all your questions, and they know everything. But you have to do everything yourself, paper work, remembering deadlines etc. But they help you if it is necessary. academic preparation Before leaving I didn't know which courses I was about to take, so no academis preperation was needed. language preparation If your English is medium You will be able to go to class in Budapest. No language preperation was needed. finances Only your Erasmus grant is not enough. I needed more than that so saving some money is smart. study/placement abroad period study programme/work plan (concerning content and organisational issues) UU Erasmus report deadlines: 1 March 2014 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2014 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 1 of 3

12 In the beginning nothing was clear. You have to be relaxed in the beginning and just see what happens. After a few weeks everything is set and you know what to do. But in the beginning it's chaos. academic quality of education/placement activities It is comparable with level 1 courses in the Netherlans counselling/support at host institution/organisation My erasmus contact person was really nice, and always helped you if you had questions. transfer of credits 27,5 ects for 4 courses, simular to Utrecht. student life welcome/orientation programme There was one orientation day. But you have to do it yourself. There is no introduction or something like that. ESN (erasmus student network) organise a ot of activities for internationals, that was really much fun. And that is the way to get to know people. accommodation I had my own flat, arrange by SRS Budapest. An agency for international students. Is was perfest, they pick you up at the airport, and arrange everything for you. And a furniture is in there. leisure/culture There is always something to do in Budapest. And in the weekends I went to trips in the coutries around Hungary, Serbia, Polans, Romania. suggestions/tips conclusions would you recommend this host organisation/destination to others? please explain Yes, Budapest is a great city. Alsways something to do. And at University I learned a lot about communism, and socialism. Really interesting. If you want to know more about this topics Budapest is the best place to go. do you have any additional advice or comments? If you go, save some money because Eramus grant is not enough. UU Erasmus report deadlines: 1 March 2014 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2014 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 2 of 3

13 UU Report form ~ Erasmus Every student receiving an Erasmus grant has to submit a UU report as well. Writing the UU report is one of the university s conditions to receive and keep the grant. Only after submitting this report your Erasmus grant will be awarded definitively. SEE UU ERASMUS REPORT FILE FOR INSTRUCTIONS! Your report will be made available to UU students preparing an exchange, placement or research period abroad. Not all of them are Dutch-speaking, therefore we prefer to receive reports written in English. Please use Tab to go to the next (text) box. faculty/college Geosciences level bachelor master PhD other name degree programme Human Geography destination city & country Budapest, Hungary name host institution and/or Eötvös Lorand University company/organization purpose Erasmus grant study/courses work placement departure date (dd/mm/yyyy) 29 / 07 / 2012 return date (dd/mm/yyyy) 05 / 02 / 2013 You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! preparation exchange/placement application process The application process was fairly easy. Just follow the steps, fill in some forms and get ready for the adventure. counselling/support at home university During orientating for a destination and preparing for departure it was difficult to reach the International Office in Utrecht because of the limited opening hours. During the stay there was correnspondence by and the International Office was helpful. academic preparation No preparation required. language preparation The university offers courses for Erasmus students in English. On request and depending on the faculty there are also some courses offered in German. Preparation in these languages is not necessary. The level of English of Dutch students was high compared to most other students. finances Budapest is a relative cheap city compared to Utrecht. Especially the public transport system and going out is cheaper. Prices of groceries, clothes etc. are often the same or sometimes more expensive. Since I made several trips within Hungary and to neighboring countries I've also had to use some money from my savings. study/placement abroad period UU Erasmus report deadlines: 1 March 2013 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2013 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 1 of 3

14 study programme/work plan (concerning content and organisational issues) The organization at ELTE is not comparable to Utrecht University. The list of offered courses was provided after the start of the semester and changed multiple times. If you just follow their relaxed way of handeling things everything will be allright. Some other students (especially Northern European) had some problems adjusting to this different type of organization. academic quality of education/placement activities The academic qualities depends strongly on different faculties, courses and teachers. counselling/support at host institution/organisation At the faculty of Sciences and Social Sciences the contact persons were very friendly and helpful. Sometimes it was a bit difficult to reach them. It is often better to visit teachers personally instead of writing them an . transfer of credits I still waiting to receive my transcript of credits from Hungary, so I don't know if all my credits will be exepted by Utrecht University. student life welcome/orientation programme The welcome programme consisted of one orientation day on which there were both official and recreational activities. Since the program lasts only one day the help through the ESN mentor programme was very helpful. Every international students gets a Hungarian students as mentor which can help with almost everything. accommodation Budapest offers a lot of great living opportunities. Some people lived in a dorm provided by ELTE, but most people found appartments to share in the middle of the city centre. I personally lived at one of the most central places in the city (Astoria) and still payed less than 300 euro's a month. Facebookpages like 'international students budapest' and 'ESN ELTE' were helpful sources to find a room. leisure/culture Budapest is the capital of Hungary and offers everything you can ask for. Day or night, you never have to get bored in Budapest. suggestions/tips Join an EILC course. Participating at the EILC course provided by the Balassi Intezet in Budapest was one of the best choices of the semester. In four weeks time I had the opportunity to get to know to the city while learning some basics of the Hungarian language and having an awesome time with other Erasmus students from all over Europe. The people I met at this 'language course' turned out to be the best friends I got during the whole semster. conclusions would you recommend this host organisation/destination to others? please explain I would definatly recommened Budapest as a destination. The level at ELTE is in my opinion lower than in Utrecht, but despite that it was really interesting to study at a place were many things I take for granted are not that normal and were this are sometimes looked upon from the different perspective than in the Netherlands. UU Erasmus report deadlines: 1 March 2013 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2013 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 2 of 3

15 do you have any additional advice or comments? I already said it in the previous comments but: 1. Join an EILC course if you have the opportunity. You really get to know the city, new friends from different universities in Budapest and I had a great month (for free!) 2. Travel around in the rest of Eastern Europe! Budapest has exellent public transport connection to cool destinations like the croatian coast, austrian alps, ukrianian countryside, beautiful cities in Romania and many other places. Travelling around and seeing more of Europe is definatly worth it (and cheap ;) 3. Although its hard try to meet some Hungarians! The mentorprogramme from ELTE is the perfect opportunity for that. They can really offer you a little extra during yours stay and give you an inside in the real Hungarian students live, opposite to the awesome Erasmus community in Budapest. Please save this UU report for your own records and send it to verslagen.internationaloffice@uu.nl within 30 days after finishing your study/placement abroad period and in ANY case before the final deadline! If you fail to submit the UU report in time, we have to claim back the Erasmus grant. UU Erasmus report deadlines: 1 March 2013 for 1 st semester ~ 1 July 2013 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 3 of 3

16 UU Report form ~ Erasmus address optional; only if you don t mind students preparing for study abroad contacting you directly E.J.H.Kelder@students.uu.nl faculty/college Sociel Sciences level bachelor master PhD other name degree programme Bachelor destination city & country Budapest, Hungary name host institution and/or Eotvos Lorand University company/organization purpose Erasmus grant study/courses work placement departure date (dd/mm/yyyy) 07 / 09 / 2011 return date (dd/mm/yyyy) 07 / 01 / 2012 You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! preparation exchange/placement application process The aplication process went very well. From my home institution I got very clear steps and deadlines. counselling/support at home university I made an appointment with the coordinator. She helped me with my choice concerning Budapest. academic preparation There was not really an academic preparation neccesary. I wrote my bachelor thesis in the period before the semester abroad. language preparation I didn't study Hungarian before I went abroad, but I did follow a course when I was there. The Hungarian Language is very difficult, and not easy to learn and speak. finances Relatively, Budapest is quite cheap to live. Food, drinks, public transport, accommodation, are all less expensive then in Holland. So I was able to live from the monlty student loan and the erasmus grant. When we went on trips or other big expenses, I had to rely on my parents. study/placement abroad period study programme/work plan (concerning content and organisational issues) I toke 5 courses and a language course. So every week I had 12 hours when I went to University. That was exactly enough. I had some time free but not to much. When I arrived in Budapest there was one week where you could follow all courses. During that week you could chose your courses again. The cours list I got in Holland before my stay abroad, was totally different from the actual courses. UU report deadlines! 1 March 2012 for 1 st semester exchange ~ 1 July 2012 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 1 of 2

17 academic quality of education/placement activities The academic quality of education activities was not so good. This was quite a pitty. counselling/support at host institution/organisation There was not a lot of couselling from the host institution. This was not neccesary actually. The coordinator was also far to busy for this kind of activities. transfer of credits I think this will go well. I don't know yet how they will transfer 28 ECT's to credits on my bachelor diploma. student life welcome/orientation programme There was a very fun welcome programme. They prepared that good. accommodation You had to find an accommodation by yourself. This was for the best I think. Through a friend and internet I find two students who had already rented an appartment and were searching for a roommate. This was a big appartment in the centre of Budapest. I had a big room. I was very happy with it. The rent was only 280 euro's. leisure/culture it was very interesting to see the culture in Hungary/Central Europe. There was a lot to discover. The city Budapest is so beautifull and has a lot of things to do. suggestions/tips Everybody should go to the termal baths and cycle trough the city! conclusions would you recommend this host organisation/destination to others? please explain Yes! Very much! do you have any additional advice or comments? - Reminder: for the purpose of future correspondence on the final awarding of your Erasmus grant, please make sure you update your telephone number(s), postal and addresses in Steun in case of any changes after your return! UU report deadlines! 1 March 2012 for 1 st semester exchange ~ 1 July 2012 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 2 of 2

18 UU Report form ~ Erasmus optional; only if you don t mind students preparing for study abroad contacting you directly address eva.vanbolderen@gmail.com faculty/college Geo sciences level bachelor master PhD other name degree programme Sociale Geografie & Planologie destination city & country Budapest, Hungary name host institution and/or Eotvos Lorand University company/organization purpose Erasmus grant study/courses work placement departure date (dd/mm/yyyy) 01 / 09 / 2011 return date (dd/mm/yyyy) 16 / 01 / 2012 You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! preparation exchange/placement application process After I had visitied a presentation about going abroad I decided that I wanted to do Erasmus for 1 semester. I heard already some stories from friends who had been abroad before and choose for a few cities a wanted to go. Some universities had courses specially for geography and some universities I had to go to another faculty. According to the courses and the cities i put Budapest on the first place of my list. It was not sure if I could go there cause there were only 1 or 2 places for whole Utrecht University, but luckily I got the place with another girl :) counselling/support at home university Because it was for the central exchange program I had to arrange everything with the international student office. Although they send you all the information you have to take the time to read everything and get all the needed documents like learning agreement and documents for your erasmus grant. academic preparation I had finished all my courses so far at Utrecht already so that was enough. Altough i went to the faculty of social sciences which is not my own background I had enough academic skill to be able to understand the courses. language preparation Due to a lot of courses in English during my own studies and because I have travelled already and did a language course once, I knew that my english was good enough. finances I had to fill in a financial plan before applying for my erasmus. That was useful to think about what you will spend and how you will get the money. With some extra savings, the erasmus grant and an extra loan from Ib-group I had enough money. study/placement abroad period UU report deadlines! 1 March 2012 for 1 st semester exchange ~ 1 July 2012 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 1 of 3

19 study programme/work plan (concerning content and organisational issues) All the courses I took were at the social sociences faculty, except one at the geography department. All courses were specially made for erasmus students. A pity was that before I went there were quite a lot of courses, but when I arrived and had to choose the courses there were less courses available, however there were for me still enough interesting courses. academic quality of education/placement activities The courses might be a little below the level I was used to, they might be less strict for international students. The academic level of the teachers however was very good same as for their english skills. counselling/support at host institution/organisation The international student coordinator of the university was very helpful. She sent a lot of information before arrival already. And during my stay you could always ask her for everything and drop by for questions, she was even on the facebook page for questions. transfer of credits This hasn't been done yet so I don't know, hope it will be fine :) student life welcome/orientation programme Before arrival we got already an from the organisor of ESN, they were quite helpful, I got a mentor and they organised the introduction day and some activities. accommodation Due to renovations of the dorms of the university everybody had to find his own flat. But you could get help from your mentor or another guy that organsied the flats. I found one myself with an agency and facebook is very useful to find flatmates or whatever. It was not very difficult to find a room and they have very nice flats im Budapest. Most flats have a living room and mostly you live with around 3 people in a flat. Also the prices are not very high for accomodation. leisure/culture Budapest is a great city!!!!!! It looks beautiful with all the big buildings, the bridges, the danube river. the islands etc. There is a lot to see you can behave like a tourist for half a year and still you haven't seen everything. Nightlife is perfect. So many pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants all really really cool, nice decoration, great atmospere and best of all it's cheap. Also the history of Budapest is interesting, there are quite some musea about the past and a lot of monuments that are mostly for the holocaust or the communist time. There are quite some internationals in Budapest, so always someone to talk to :) Hungarian people are a little different, they are really nice but sometimes a little less nice. The younger generation, specially the ones that go to university speak fluently english, the older generation speaks kind of still German, so with a little german from highschool I didn t have many troubles with understanding. Hungarian however is a incredible language, it is very diffucult to learn. I took a language course but didn't learn much, but it's nice to try speak some words in the shops. suggestions/tips If you want a Erasmus period with quite some partying and not too much serious studying, Budapest is the perfect city to go. There is a lot to do in the city, it is cheap (compared to Utrecht, 0.5liter of beer was 1,50euros) and it is UU report deadlines! 1 March 2012 for 1 st semester exchange ~ 1 July 2012 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 2 of 3

20 quite central located in Eastern Europe so nice for some trips aboad. conclusions would you recommend this host organisation/destination to others? please explain For sure, the university and city are nice. Interesting courses and there are also some other universities in Budapest. The city is just great, would love to go back again, I had a great time there! do you have any additional advice or comments? no Reminder: for the purpose of future correspondence on the final awarding of your Erasmus grant, please make sure you update your telephone number(s), postal and addresses in Steun in case of any changes after your return! UU report deadlines! 1 March 2012 for 1 st semester exchange ~ 1 July 2012 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 3 of 3

21 UU Report form ~ Erasmus faculty/college Humanities level bachelor master PhD other name degree programme Media Studies destination city & country Budapest, Hungary name host institution and/or ELTE company/organization purpose Erasmus grant study/courses work placement departure date (dd/mm/yyyy) 01 / 08 / 2010 return date (dd/mm/yyyy) 01 / 07 / 2011 You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! preparation exchange/placement application process The application process took me some time, because there are different sources of information about it. But after all, it was quite easy to arrange. I focussed myself on my motivation letter and after being chosen, the coordinator helped by applying. counselling/support at home university My coordinator, Madita Splint, was very helpful and I could ask her about everything. Only she didn t ask me if I would like to take part in the EILC and I had to find out myself about the existence of it. Because of that, we were too late so apply me and I had to pay the costs by myself. That was about 350 euro, so it would be better if the home university had told us about before. academic preparation I practised my english before I went to Budapest and I also took part in the EILC language course. Besides the language practise I didn t do any preparation on academic level. language preparation I took part in the EILC, hungarian language course. Just to be open for the hungarians and learn something about there culture and language. It was a very nice period and I met a lot of other incoming international students. finances I saved some money before and I received the erasmus grant. Besides these sources my family supported me as well. But during the second semester I have worked at the university and I earned some money there. I could work as the student assistant in the Dutch faculty and that was a great experience. study/placement abroad period study programme/work plan (concerning content and organisational issues) The content and organisational issues of the courses really depend from teacher to teacher. Some courses were really well organised and interesting, for example the history course about Budapest, Prague and Vienna. But UU report deadlines! 1 March 2011 for 1 st semester exchange ~ 1 July 2011 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 1 of 3

22 other courses were very low leveled, and some were that bad that I decide to drop the course. For example the Photojournalism course. The title seemed very interesting to me, but during the lessons we didn t learn anything and just watched some youtube movies and talked about that. For me that course was a real disappointment During the first semester in Budapest I have been searching for an internship for the second semester. I found a place to work for in the journalism and I have written articles and made filmreports for the Dutch people living in Hungary. My works were published in the online magazine Hongarije Vandaag. academic quality of education/placement activities That also depend from teacher to teacher. For example the course about american cinema was quite hard. We had to do a presentation about a filmanalyse and to do an exam. The level was good. About the placement; Mostly I was writing articles or making filmreports, together with a Hungarian journalist. So we could help eachother with the languages. She could do the interviews in Hungarian and I could write the articles in Dutch. We were a good team together. Mostly we follwed the cultural agenda of the Dutch ambassy and reported about these events. For example, we made a filmreport of the comicfestival in Budapest whereby Dutch artist, like Joost Swarte, were invited and did performance there. counselling/support at host institution/organisation The erasmus coordinator of ELTE was really supportive during the year. He was very easy to reach and was open to help you in any field. Also the coordinator of the media department was very friendly and nice. For example I was looking for an internship for the second semester and she helped me searching. At the end it didn t work out and I found something else by myself. transfer of credits For me it is quite funny that the hungarians don t have such a detailed creditsystem. The only possibilities are 1,2,3,4 or 5 and nothing between. That means that a 5 for hungarians can mean a 8 or a 10 for us in Holland. In my experience some teachers were very easy to give a 5. But in one course, I received a 1, and I actually learned a lot for that course. I had to do the retake and fortunately I got a 3 at the end. student life welcome/orientation programme I don t remember any orientation programme actually. There was only one day where all the international students were invited and they told us something about the schools and the departments. But my personal orientation was already the EILC language course, during this week were a lot of organised programmes. accommodation I found my own flat for the first semester and during the first semester I became friends with some Hungarians and one of them went on erasmus to belgium, so I could rent her flat for the second semester. It is important to live in the city centre in Budapest, but it doenst matter that much where the flat is located, because once can walk easily here and the public transport is also very well organised. leisure/culture The Hungarian culture is a culture with an interesting history and it was quite obvious that the hungarian are very conscious about their past. In general the Hungarians are very pessimistic about their own country and that s what you feel in the streets. They drink a lot, don t smile too much and are quite closed in the first impression. But when UU report deadlines! 1 March 2011 for 1 st semester exchange ~ 1 July 2011 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 2 of 3

23 you get to know them there are very warm and welcoming people. They also know a lot about history and literature. In that way, Hungary has a more traditional wat of teahcing as well. It s about the knowledge and not about the interaction or discussion. You can notice it everywhere that Hungarians don t like to show their opinion. For example I took part in the demonstration about the new media law and the people were quite calm. Compare to the dutch individualism it is a completely different culture. suggestions/tips Don t bother yourself of the difference of the hungarians compare with the dutch culture, but go into the history and culture and you will enjoy it as an antropoligic experience. conclusions would you recommend this host organisation/destination to others? please explain Yes, I would surely recommend ELTE as a host organisation for erasmus students. In such a different culture it is especially interesting for students in the field of media,culture or other humanity studies. do you have any additional advice or comments? Enjoy the culture of the Hungarians, because they are really an island in culture and language, even in eastern europe. So I think if you are interested in eastern europe, Hungary is the best choice. Budapest is the capital of culture in this area and they have a lot to give when you talk about film, music, theatre and so on. Reminder: for the purpose of future correspondence on the final awarding of your Erasmus grant, please make sure you update your telephone number(s), postal and addresses in Steun in case of any changes after your return! UU report deadlines! 1 March 2011 for 1 st semester exchange ~ 1 July 2011 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 3 of 3

24 UU Report form ~ Erasmus faculty/college Humanities level bachelor master PhD other name degree programme Theatre-, Film- and Television studies destination city & country Budapest, Hungary name host institution and/or Eötvös Loránd University company/organization purpose Erasmus grant study/courses work placement departure date (dd/mm/yyyy) 06 / 08 / 2010 return date (dd/mm/yyyy) 26 / 01 / 2011 You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! preparation exchange/placement application process In de kerstvakantie van 2009/2011 ben ik voor het eerst serieus begonnen met het zoeken naar informatie over mijn studie in het buitenland. Eigenlijk had ik beter nog iets eerder kunnen beginnen, maar uiteindelijk had ik nog voldoende tijd om het internet af te speuren naar informatie, het International Office te bezoeken en verslagen te lezen van andere studenten. Wat ik vooral lastig vond, was het feit dat de informatie over het Erasmusprogramma en de mogelijkheid om in het buitenland te studeren zo verspreid te vinden was: in verschillende International Offices en op verschillende websites op het internet. counselling/support at home university Madita Splint was mijn coördinatior in het International Office van de faculteit Geesteswetenschappen. Zij heeft met mij een groot aantal universiteiten doorgenomen waar ik eventueel zou kunnen studeren. Ook wist zij mij het één en ander te vertellen over ervaringen van andere studenten, maar over haar bezoeken aan de verschillende universiteiten. Het feit dat zij mij wees op de Eötvös Loránd universiteit in Boedapest maakte dat ik voor het eerst serieus naar deze optie ging kijken. academic preparation language preparation De eerste dagen in Boedapest gaven mij het gevoel dat ik weer in groep 3 van de basisschool zat: je herkent alle letters, maar kunt nog niet lezen. Dit was een heel bijzondere ervaring. Het Hongaars is niet verwant aan de Indo- Europese talen en dus heb je in Hongarije niets aan je kennis van het Engels, Spaans of bijna iedere andere taal. De enige talen waarmee het Hongaars een beetje verwantschap heeft zijn het Fins, Wogoels en Ostjaaks. Oftewel: een Erasmus Intensive Language Course (EILC) is absoluut een aanrader! De taalcursus in de zomer was voor mij de meest leuke periode van mijn Erasmus. Drie weken lang leerden we iedere dag van 9 tot 4, daarna hingen we in Boedapest de toerist uit en 's avonds gingen we met z'n allen uit. Heel intensief, maar ik heb geen seconde spijt gehad van mijn beslissing om de taalcursus te doen. Wees er wel op tijd bij met aanmelden en ga er zelf achteraan, want in mijn geval hoorde ik niets via het International Office en was ik uiteindelijk te laat met UU report deadlines! 1 March 2011 for 1 st semester exchange ~ 1 July 2011 for 2 nd semester or full year exchange/placement page 1 of 4