Csinicia Kovacs (21) has come from Oradea (Romania) to Nijmegen for a master in Spatial Planning, but she plans to move permanently to the Netherlands afterwards.

Why did you decide to study in the Netherlands?

‘I absolutely love the Netherlands; my master will take one year, but I’m currently planning to move here permanently afterwards. My boyfriend is Dutch, so I’ve been here many times over the past three years and I’m happy to live here now.’

Have you already found a room in Nijmegen?

‘No. Right now, I live in Heerenveen, which is in Friesland, and I plan to travel to Nijmegen throughout my studies at Radboud. My contract hours are only five to ten a week, so that makes it pretty doable.’

What are you most looking forward to?

‘Since I already did a bachelor degree in Romania, I’m really excited to see how the Dutch university system differs from the Romanian one. So far, there seems to be a very big difference: the campus is way bigger and way newer and the people seem to be way nicer.’

Are you a bit nervous about something?

‘Honestly, about getting lost. I’m a bit bad with directions and it took me a pretty long time to even get to the campus today. But I think that I should get accustomed to it within two or three weeks.’