Artificial intelligence student Luis Avalos, from Mexico, has just arrived in Nijmegen and is amazed by the differences between studying in The Netherlands and in Mexico. For Vox, he will blog about his experiences.

Being brought up by a Mexican family, and having lived in Mexico my entire life, I assumed I would follow the path that was laid out for me; studying in Mexico, being close to my family, and all I already knew. Two years ago, I came to realise that I wanted more, and I always had the dream of studying abroad. I therefore decided to pursue this dream, and find my dream university abroad.

After great consideration, Netherlands came to mind, and I ended up applying for Radboud University in Nijmegen. Here I am, two years after, finding myself having a great time studying in Nijmegen while keeping in mind that getting here was hard work. I am really far from where I was two years ago (Literally speaking as well, just nine thousand kilometres away from home).

Several things have amused me during my first weeks in The Netherlands. Firstly, when I was on the train to Nijmegen, I could not help but notice how flat this country is: and then it hit me: ‘Well, of course you are going to use bikes to get everywhere’. I find bikes very convenient by the way. Three minutes from my room to my faculty, can you believe it?. Secondly, what they say about the Dutch being blunt is entirely true, however, I think it is pretty efficient! Cut to the chase, no hard feelings. Such way of speaking would be a breakthrough in Mexico. For my aunts it would certainly be.

The third and most amusing has been the way education works here. The Dutch take education very seriously, you can tell by the number of Dutch classmates I have that are fluent in more than two languages or you can tell by the quality of resources for our courses. For me it is clear that excellence and quality is demanded amongst all levels of the institution. Radboud University has become my holy grail for what I have always sought in a school, here is what I loved so far:

My professors are scientists. It is just incredibly amazing for me to have a personified Wikipedia giving me lectures. They are up-to-date on the current topics of my field, which is very cool. I love that.

On another note: professors are also teachers. This is how the Dutch refer to them, and it makes clear how easy it is to approach a lecturer with an inquiry.

Did I mention that there is no such thing as a lecture in Mexico? A Dutch lecture hall resembles a conference room, which we do have and where universities usually host symposiums and conferences. However, for university classes, I am used to professors that teach for an hour to more-or-less thirty students. Sometimes the class duration felt limited, since usually we go through a whole book in one semester course. In spite of that, there is usually some dialogue between teachers and students during our classes. But again, the way teachers are more approachable here in The Netherlands leads to a much deeper discussion during the lectures, which I also find very positive.

Soon the first quarter will end and I will have passed my first courses ever while studying abroad. I will keep you posted with the results and more impressions!

Read Luis Avalos's blogs here