Personal Development
I gained new friends and travelled Europe which exposed me to new cultures. I also learnt some Spanish and Italian while over there. This experience has changed me because I had the pleasure of being surrounded by so many people from so many different and cool backgrounds. I learnt a bit from everyone of them.
Academic Development
This experience impacted me significantly academically because the culture of studying in Netherlands is very different to here. I enjoyed how Utrecht University, the university at which I studied at, encouraged more group work. Some of the challenges I faced was that the tutorial assistants usually taught the courses in Dutch but i had limited proficiency in it. Therefore, we had to make a team effort and it tested our patience as we would have to slowly work through course content. Study workload was slightly lighter than at UQ because UU splits up the semester into 2 periods so at most, we had to take two courses at a time. This allowed me to focus all my attention on those 2 courses instead of 4 at UQ.
Professional Development 
I greatly improved my communication and leadership skills which I can see greatly contributing to both my professional development and future employability as I believe, it has made me more of a team player. Some of the challenges I faced was being an international student and trying to interact with others but some of them had limited english proficiency which made it hard. Also, apparently, Australians speak fast so it would often be hard them to understand what I was saying. I overcame this but having great patience and speaking slower so they could comprehend. I also made efforts to learn new languages as well.
Budget
I set aside around $100 a week for food and eating out and another $50 for fun and new experiences. Overall I spent about $13,000 AUD. Accommodation took up a major chunk of this costing around $5,000 AUD. I would advice new students to take advantage of student benefits and try budgeting for essentials like groceries. I also encourage students to travel as much as possible to experience new and diverse cultures.
Accommodation
I used student accommodation. It was really good as the room was quite big and I shared a bathroom and kitchen with two other flat mates. Some pros was the size of the apartment and private sink. Some cons was that the shared facilities were not particularly clean as the bathroom had mold. I would advise new students to be on the lookout for accommodation as soon as possible as it is highly competitive.
Highlights
The highlight of my experience was going on a road trip around the Netherlands with new friends I had made including the Hague, Nijmegen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Maastricht
Top Tips
I would advise new students to meet as many people as you can and also be down to try new things as the 6 month exchange flies by very quickly!
