Testimonials

Name: Luiza Florencio Queiroz Albuquerque Age: 21 Home University: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco - Brazil Study: Social Communication

Me and my life in Brazil

Hi, my name is Luiza, but you can call me Lucky. As you may have imagined, I’m an exchange student from Brazil here in Amsterdam. Back home I study in a public university called UFPE, which is one of the most important Brazilian universities. My bachelor is Social Communication, with emphasis in advertising – and yes,  that tells a lot from my personality, I love communicating with people!  I usually go to university by car (in a good day takes me about 20 minutes to get there from my home), but sometimes I take the bus, which is not so nice, because it takes me 50 minutes to get there and I have to wake up really early to be on time – does 6.00 or 6.30 sound appealing to you?

Why on exchange?

I always wanted to go on exchange, and coming to Europe was a child’s dreams ever since I can remember. The reason I chose Amsterdam is very simple: it is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world (in the middle of Europe), where people are known of being open-minded, well-educated and creative. I searched for universities in Amsterdam, and came across with VU and UVA. Lucky me (no puns intended), VU and UFPE are partners and they made it easier for me to come to the Netherlands, yay!

Studying and living in the Netherlands

Studying at VU brought me loads of surprises. I have to admit it took me a while to adapt to the entire system. For instance, there’s always previous literature which you have to keep up with BEFORE the class, otherwise exam week will become hell to you. The teachers are also very formal… well, at least more formal than I’m used to. I love the studying rooms, something that I’m really going to miss here. Another big difference I noticed between my university and VU is that many courses only last one period – in Brazil, we only have courses that last the whole semester. But the scariest difference has got to be the Exam Tent! At first I thought that it was seriously intimidating, but I guess one kind of gets used to it after a while, right?
So far, everything I imagined is going strictly by the book. I have met not only Dutch people (who have been really dear and helpful to me adapting to Amsterdam’s environment) but also lots of other exchange students from all over the globe! The nightlife in Amsterdam is also very crazy, lots of borrels on Thursdays, which I found really weird cause it is in the middle of the week. But what can I say… I love it. Every day I learn something new just by talking with my friends – and I mean it! I’m constantly amazed by how different people and their culture can be. All of this makes me think more about the world and myself… This has definitely been the greatest experience I’ve ever had.