Emmy Pearson – Business Management – Level 2
Deventer, Netherlands
Day 1
We had an early night and then up in plenty of time for breakfast. Our host had drawn little faces on the boiled eggs which was cute and made us feel very welcome. It was a continental breakfast and it looked delicious, there was also a selection of loose leaf tea and some local cake which was a little like fruit cake which we also planned to take home.
After breakfast, despite the rain, we went out to explore the town. We found a park by the river that had a huge fountain and some statues. There was also a bird sanctuary which was full of adorable birds and a cat that jumped out and scared us.
After that we headed back toward the town centre. In there we found that most shops were shut until the afternoon or did not open on a Monday. We did notice how unique all the shops were with a lack of chain stores and mainly small shops ranging from antiques, books, clothes and even Charles Dickens themed shops. The town has a love of Dickens with a large amount of streets dedicated to him. Unfortunately, we could not read all the quotes as the majority were in Dutch, however, they did give the streets more character. Each unique building a little different from the last, it gave the town an almost surreal feeling to it. For us this is mainly because of how similar buildings in the UK can be.
After a failed attempt to find tourist information we headed for the university. Once there we had to wait for the rest of the group. We met with some of the lecturers from Saxion and were shown to a room where we were going to be making a presentations for the afternoon.
Lunch from the university café had a large selection of rolls, soups and hot food as well as drinks. Presentations were done in the afternoon before heading on a walking tour of Deventer.
Our tour of Deventer was very interesting despite the pouring rain. We were shown around lots of historical and interesting places that we had not managed to find by ourselves and learned a lot about the history of the area. We also saw the preparations for the party that was being held for the local football team.
Last day/overall trip
The last day we were there had the best weather. In the morning we had to go to a lecture at Saxion which I found very interesting. There was a market on in the brink which we went to after. The Brink is the centre square in Deventer which has a lot of restaurants and cafés. It was really nice to see the various food and drink as well as flowers and clothes at the market stalls. I loved seeing all the fresh colours and smells that I saw at the markets.
We had an afternoon to explore parts of Deventer which we were not able to during the week as we were very busy. All of the shops were open which made the city come to life. We decided before we needed to go back to the hotel to collect our luggage to go for a drink and enjoy the weather before heading back to catch a plane.
Overall I have enjoyed my time in the Netherlands and looking at Saxion University. Going to the variety of interesting business that I would not have had the opportunity to go to such as going to HMS host which is located in Schiphol Airport. They control the majority of restaurants in the airport. This is where we had a coffee tasting which, as I am not a coffee drinker, I was not too keen about initially but I found it one of my highlights of the trip.
I feel that an exchange is something I am very keen to do, one of the universities I am interested in is Brock University which is near Toronto in Canada.
The trip has opened my eyes to how an exchange can impact and help you grow as a person living in a different country for a semester.
