How do these new students experience their first year? Part 3: ‘It’s getting more and more fun!’

Siri (26, Design for Interaction master)

“I always get a little lazy in winter, so I’m glad winter has passed. Once the sun is shining, my problems seem less dramatic. I’ve already been for a picnic in the park with friends. Lovely!

My studies are going well. At the moment I am co-working on research for a new course for people who are blind or have a visual impairment. Step one is for us to experience a little of their world. We just put on special glasses and blindfolds and went to the Jumbo supermarket to buy a sandwich. Look at these glasses, we rubbed them with Vaseline and covered them with tape. You only have a tiny blurry hole to look out of. I really enjoy doing these kinds of things as part of my study.

My boyfriend and I have given up trying to find a house. None of our attempts worked out. My place in Rotterdam may not be my dream flat, but I’ve accepted that I will stay there for now. In any case, I have a roof over my head and my boyfriend from Kortrijk (Belgium) stays with me almost every weekend.

I speak Dutch, but my friends here are mostly from outside the Netherlands. As a Norwegian-Dutch person, I too am an international. Most Dutch people doing a master’s here do not look for friends in the same way that I do. They often have old friends from before. I am happy that the friendships that I started making here from the start are getting deeper.”

IJsbrand (17, Bachelor Molecular Science and Technology)

“At the beginning of the year I moved to Delft. I now live close to the station and I like it. A lot of furniture was gifted to me, so that made a huge difference in costs. One thing I brought from home is a big gold gorilla statue. My father had brought it home when he worked in television. It now stands, at one-and-a-half metres high, next to our television.

A really big advantage of living in Delft is that I can cycle home late at night after drinks and don’t need to take the bus home at 23:00. But that said, I don’t go wild! I’m still below 18 years old. I also give mathematics lessons to boost my income. And I try to cook tasty, healthy and affordable food. I even bought two cookbooks.

I am a member of the Krashna Musika student music association. I sing in the choir and we are rehearsing for a performance at the end of June. It will have a fairytale theme, really great. And I recently organised a pool evening with the first years committee of my study association. It went really well. The older members said that it was the best first years committee they had ever had.

My BSA (binding recommendation on continuation of studies) will be issued soon. I did not pass two subjects, but I’m not really worried about the subjects I still have to do. It will be fine. They are a sort of prediction of the ‘TU Delft side’ of my studies. I spend half my time at the University of Leiden for the chemistry subjects and half at TU Delft for the technical subjects.”

Aqdas (22, Civil Engineering master)

“I have had a great few months, and it’s getting even better now that the weather is clearing up. It has been busy though.

The Dutch winter was better than I was told. A lot of people said to me that it would be depressing and that you can’t do anything. But it was not that bad. If you layer up, you can still do the things you want to do. I didn’t see any snow unfortunately. It only snowed one morning, and I was on vacation. I met up with my family from India in Saudi Arabia during the Christmas holidays.

It was also the first time I didn’t spend Ramadan with my family. My family was worried about that. They thought there would be nobody around to share it with, and that I would have to break fast alone every day. But it was not that bad. At the mosque I was able to share the experience with many others. I also broke fast with the Muslim Student Association, of which I’m a member.

I’m also learning Dutch quite intensively. I spend about eight to 10 hours on it a week.” He continues in Dutch. “I think it is important to learn Dutch as I want to work here and make friends. I don’t only want to work and then go home. I also want to talk to people in the supermarket or in the mosque.”

Dorsa (19, bachelor Computer Science and Engineering)

“Things are going well for me. I passed everything. But that said, I have not yet got the result of one resit I had to do. I am enjoying the subjects that I am still doing. So I’m pretty sure I will get my BSA. And it’s getting more and more fun!

My imposter syndrome has started to ebb away. At first I saw a lot of people around me who knew a lot more than I did and I wondered whether I belonged among them. But now I realise that they had simply acquired a lot more prior knowledge than I had. The difference now is not that big and I have more self-confidence. I had to get used to everything at first.

I was a member of my study association and I have now also joined the Iranian study association. I also often go to town with friends. But I also like being on campus. I often go the Coffee-Star in the University Library. I always order the same thing – a cappuccino with oat milk and a touch of vanilla.

I am really happy that I can still live at home in Zwijndrecht. I am a member of a gym there and try to go there three times a week. I don’t always manage it. But when I go, it clears my head and I look forward to studying again.”