IES Abroad - Study Abroad in The Netherlands

First of all, Amsterdam is an incredible city to live in! I lived right outside the city center near Vondelpark, and I felt at home very quickly. Naturally, it took me a little while to adjust, but before I knew it I felt very comfortable going about life in Amsterdam. Dutch culture and life in Amsterdam is very unique and something that is easy to appreciate. Even though I have only been back in the United States for 1.5 months, I am already looking forward to my next visit! Secondly, the IES Abroad staff are amazing. During our orientation they educated us on Dutch culture and customs, and took us on various field trips around the Netherlands. Even after orientation, the staff were extremely accessible and made sure to check in with us periodically. I had a great experience with IES Abroad and I would highly recommend spending your time abroad with them!

I didn’t want to be that person who said study abroad changed my life, but now I realize they are right — my experience abroad was life changing. This summer (2019) I had the incredible opportunity to travel abroad with IES to Amsterdam. Making it to Europe has always been a dream of mine, and when I saw the immerse and customizable curriculum that IES has to offer, including a course on Intersexuality and its history in Dutch medicine as well as a gendered approach looking at 17th century art history, I knew this program was right for me. Since pre-departure, the IES Staff made the process incredibly easy — consistent emails and working alongside the study abroad office kept me ahead of schedule and prepared for in advance of boarding my flight. This communication remained if not flourished as the program began and I was starting my summer in a new country. The summer went by quick (sad), but by the end I can say that I left with a completely new cultural perspective, an expansive amount of knowledge, a ton of new experiences (and photos!), and of course 20 new friends. I thank the IES Abroad Faculty for the incredible experiences I got to live out this summer, and hope that the many prospective students of the program have an amazing time in the upcoming semesters!

Spending a semester abroad in Amsterdam was an awesome experience that I am so grateful for. Not only did I meet amazing people in the program, I got to live in the city and experience so many different things about Dutch culture. The living accommodations were fantastic and I was able to live comfortably and travel quite a bit. Not to mention the school system in the Netherlands allowed me to have a lot of extra time and learning outside of the classroom. I visited world class museums and saw masterpieces. I explored Amsterdam's historic streets and wandered Vondelpark where I found the Picasso sculpture. The program was very supportive and I really enjoyed my time abroad.