Beaudine Slijper on exchange in Canada: ‘After lectures, we often headed for the ski slopes’

Published on 25 November 2024

In January 2024, Bachelor’s student in Law Beaudine Slijper left for Vancouver to spend a semester studying at a Canadian university. We asked her what it’s like to study at a foreign university and how you can arrange an exchange.

Why did you decide to do an exchange?

Actually, I always liked the idea of going on an exchange rather than staying in Leiden during my whole study period. I wanted to travel anyway, and to find out what it’s like to study at other universities. And apart from that, it just sounded like a really nice experience and the fact that an exchange looks good on your CV is an added bonus.

Why did you choose to go to Canada?

A big factor for me in terms of destination was that it had to be an English-speaking country. I wanted to be able to connect with locals and that’s much harder if there’s a language barrier. I gave myself the choice between Australia, the US and Canada. I always had a certain image in my head of North American universities – that everything revolves around sports achievements – and that’s something we don’t have at all at Dutch universities. I thought it would be interesting to find out if it was really like that.

How did you prepare?

I went to an exchange information evening with a friend at the Old Observatory (Sterrewacht). We received lots of information about all the opportunities and how to register. It turned out that you just needed to register through Usis. You need to select your top five destinations, and based on those preferences you’re then allocated a destination.

Pretty soon after I submitted my application, I heard that I’d been placed at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. The university also gave me a list of things I needed to arrange myself, such as accommodation, my visa and course registrations. Most things were very straightforward and if I had a question, I could ask the exchange coordinators. I always received a reassuring reply, and pretty quickly as well. Contact was very smooth, both with the university in Vancouver and back here with Leiden.

Did you run into any problems making the arrangements?

Not really. The most stressful thing to arrange was my accommodation. UBC has a campus, and of course everyone wants to live on campus because it's cheaper and more fun. If you’re not allocated a place on campus – and that happens to lots of people – then you only have a few months to find somewhere else to live. Housing is much more expensive and difficult to find in the city. Waiting to find out if I had a place on campus was quite stressful, but fortunately that did work out.

Was the teaching very different from the teaching at Dutch universities?

In the Netherlands, you have lectures and seminars with lots of other students. Sometimes, I have lectures with 600 or 800 people. In Vancouver, I only had seminars with up to 25 students. They were three-hour seminars where you had a kind of lecture for 90 minutes and then the rest of the time spent discussing the material as a class. In that sense, the teaching was much more informal and personal than in Leiden. You had much more contact with the lecturer and everyone was far more actively engaged in the discussions. Another big difference is that the university organised lots of social events such as ski competitions, running races and Storm the Wall, where you had to climb a wall installed on campus.

What’s your best memory from your time away?

During my exchange, I went to Cancun in Mexico with friends from UBC to celebrate spring break. That was really cool. The scenery from the ski slopes in Vancouver is also stunning. Students even get a discount if they go skiing in the evenings. And so I often went skiing with a group of friends in the evening after lectures. It was amazing.

Has your image of North American universities since changed?

Yes and no. The image I had from films and series – that everything revolves around sports achievements – didn’t entirely align with reality. On the other hand, there was a huge skating rink, loads of large sports grounds and the stereotypical cheerleaders who came to lectures wearing their outfits. Although it wasn’t entirely about sport, there was still a big focus on it.

What advice would you give to other students considering doing an exchange?

For those who aren’t yet sure: I think it’s important to get all the information and talk to people who have done exchanges. I got lots of information from reports from others who had been on exchanges before.

For people who already know they want to do it: it will be absolutely fine. Arrange the things you can arrange, but don't be nervous about the things you can't organise. It really will work out.

Text: Wouter Geerts
Image: Beaudine Slijper