A Conversation with Will Clancy: CGIS Site Visit to Amsterdam, Netherlands

MH: How would students benefit from each of the three programs in Amsterdam?

WC: So, the easiest way to do that is based on their major. Obviously, that will depend on if a student is hoping to take courses related to their major while on the program, but it just tends to be what subject areas you're hoping to take while abroad. Depending on the answer to that would be how I help guide you to one program over the other.

This does tend to come down to the partner university each program works with. Each partner university will have much more robust offerings in certain subject areas than the other, and that can certainly influence your decision of which to go with. You are not restricted based on your major. If, for example, you are a STEM major but you do not want to take STEM courses, you could still do the Humanities and Social Sciences and go to UvA if you prefer that university even though they will not have many STEM offerings for you. It is up to the student a little bit, but it will mostly heavily depend on what they're hoping to study.

For the summer program, it does tend to be women and gender studies majors/minors, or students with an interest in women and gender studies. Since it is just two courses you take during the summer for six credits, it can be a great way to spend some time in Amsterdam and to learn a little bit more about those topics, even if it's not directly related to what you're studying here on campus.

MH: What do these programs offer that students couldn't get in Ann Arbor, whether they’re taking classes within or outside of their major?

WC: So a big opportunity is going to be discussions about the European Union, or courses surrounding the European Union. And this goes both for your traditional political science, international relations areas, but also even more into the science side of things. How science is funded and research is funded over in Europe is going to look different than how it is in the US. And so even if you are taking a STEM course that is similar to one offered here on campus, you will be provided with a more European and European Union based perspective on that science topic. You will also likely hear about the differences between EU nations in those topics, which can certainly be fascinating.

There's also certain urban planning courses and architecture courses that are available through the program that you will not find as readily available here on campus. Taubman may have some offerings that are similar, but they will not take you out into the city to go look at those examples of things – in part because of the Netherlands being an engineering marvel. The Netherlands is a country that is very low-lying, and a lot of its land has been reclaimed sea land. So they've done a lot of engineering of dams and levees and water engineering in order to make it livable everywhere in the Netherlands. If you are interested at all in engineering-adjacent sorts of topics, that would be something that you'd be able to find on this program that you certainly, may have a harder time getting access to here in Michigan.

MH: What type of housing do students have on these IES programs?

WC: For the programs in Amsterdam, students are placed into shared student apartments through IES. They tend to be in individual rooms with their own bathroom, and then they share a kitchen amongst students in their hall. The locations will be throughout not quite central Amsterdam, but the immediately surrounding area on the metro lines that go around Amsterdam. So student apartments are not right in the city center amongst the canals right after you get off the train in Amsterdam Central, but they are really conveniently located to public transit and tend to have a lot of students living in them: other exchange students that are doing the IES programs, local Dutch students studying at those universities, or even other international students do also stay in those same sorts of apartment complexes.

Students all get a bike with their housing in Amsterdam, so whether it's with the apartment building they are staying with throughout the program, or if IES provides it directly, every student does get access to a bike rental or bike sharing system so that they can bike throughout the city as well.

MH: Excellent. And what is public transit like in Amsterdam?

WC: There is pretty robust public transit available in Amsterdam. I like to tell students that Amsterdam is a city that is set up primarily for walking and biking. That is what many local Dutch will do, especially when you are in the more central part of the city – it will be mostly walking and biking around. A lot of their public transits like the metro system trains are mostly above ground, but also do spend some time underground. The underground tends to not necessarily go through much of central Amsterdam, but more along the outskirts of the city. You do have really good public transit to get you to classes, to the study center, and that can take you to different parts of the city.

However, the city is definitely tailored to walking and students will be walking between things. Walking will likely take just as long as public transit in certain areas. So it's definitely something to consider as you are thinking about getting around in the city.

The other thing is that public transit in Amsterdam can be a little bit more expensive, especially when compared to some of its other European counterparts. They have started implementing dynamic-like pricing for their public transit based on how crowded it is, time of day, and things like that. So if you are not investing in a monthly transit pass, you may end up spending a lot of money on public transit which is something to be careful of whether you're visiting or studying there.

MH: And outside of public transit, what does the cost of living look like compared to Ann Arbor living?

WC: So, that is hard to answer, because it certainly depends a bit on your lifestyle and choices. I would say it is fairly similar to the cost of living here in Ann Arbor. Likely groceries would feel a little bit cheaper for Americans while they're in Amsterdam. Meals out might also, at times, be a little bit cheaper than meals here in Ann Arbor from restaurants, but that is not always the case. Amsterdam does have a very high amount of tourism, and so especially if you are in the more touristy central parts of the city, you will be paying higher prices in those areas. But there are other ways where cost is a lot lower than here in Ann Arbor, especially if you are staying in the neighborhoods where your housing is, or where the locals tend to do their living and going out; that tends to be a bit more affordable than here in Ann Arbor.

MH: Does this program suit in-state or out-of-state students better, or does it not really matter?

WC: For cost reasons, out-of-state students may be a little bit more compelled to choose this program over maybe some of our other options, but in terms of subject area and support level, I do not think it matters. I definitely think this is a great option for both in-state or out-of-state students. I know some of our in-state students do come from West Michigan that has a very high level of Dutch ancestry and Dutch cultural influence from way back in its history. This can be a really cool program to see where some of that influence comes from: the windmills, the tulips, all the fun stuff, and some of the other cultural connections that you can make while in Amsterdam.

WC: This will depend whether you're there for a semester or for the spring-summer. Spring-summer students will probably struggle a little bit more to interact and engage with the locals, in part because you're taking courses just at the IES Study Center with other exchange students that are not from Amsterdam or the Netherlands. It's also a shorter experience during the high tourist season, so it can be a little bit harder to meet locals. A lot of Dutch will go on vacations and breaks throughout the summer, too, so the city is not necessarily as filled with the locals as it is during the semester.

For our semester students, however, they have two different partner universities. The Psychology and Sciences program is with Vrije Universiteit, or VU for short. And then the Humanities and Social Sciences is with the University van Amsterdam, or UvA for short. Through both of those partner universities, students have access to all student clubs, organizations, and things like that. Both campuses also have an on-campus bar cafe that students tend to frequent. I would say students connect with local Dutch students, both in those courses that they take at those local universities, but also through the extracurricular opportunities that are available at both those universities. They are obviously different depending on the university you're going to, but that tends to be where students do most of their connecting with locals.

I also always recommend students choose a home coffee shop or a home bar that they frequent multiple times a week, so that they can connect with locals that are not just students also taking courses with them. This helps give them another perspective on Amsterdam and Dutch culture.

MH: When you were in Amsterdam, did you notice any cultural or societal differences that you would like to highlight to students?

WC: The big one is going to be the biking culture. This is something that I think everyone knows about Amsterdam, and something people think about when you talk or hear about Amsterdam. But it's one thing to think about it, and even joke about it as Americans who love to drive everywhere, but that can sometimes be a huge culture shock once you do arrive and start living in Amsterdam. Amsterdam, and the Netherlands in general, have created such extensive bike infrastructure that works a lot different than how our bike lanes even here in Ann Arbor work. It's a completely separate network from the roads, so oftentimes they are right next to the roads like you would find here in Ann Arbor. But there's also a lot of shortcuts, bridges, parking, and things that bikes can go through that do not share a road at all.

It can be a huge adjustment to getting used to looking for bikes before you cross the road. They will not stop for you; they will run you right over. There are rules of the road for bikers and biking that students should be aware of before they start doing their daily commute to and from classes if they decide to bike. So I would say that's probably one of the biggest differences, that students are sometimes a little bit surprised by: how intense the biking culture is.

One of the things I use as an example is that they have underground bike parking garages. In the US, you might have a below-ground parking deck or parking garage for cars. Over there, parking under their central train station is literally just for bikes. You can walk under the canals for the central station, and under the train station, and just look at racks and racks full of bikes. That is certainly something that you would probably never find in the US anywhere, even our most bike-friendly areas. What can be a little bit hard to adjust to is that when you're crossing the street, look for bikers first, before you even look for cars or anything like that.

MH: What was the food scene like in Amsterdam?

WC: So, the food is certainly interesting. The food scene in Amsterdam is pretty varied. Since there are a lot of immigrants and expats who are living in Amsterdam, you do have a very wide variety of food. There's also some more luxurious chain sort of restaurants, or restaurants that have a location in New York. Amsterdam is a common place for them to have a second location, if they have one in Europe. So there are certainly a lot of high-end options available, but something that's really fascinating about Amsterdam that makes it a little bit more unique in terms of its food scene is Surinamese and Indonesian cuisine. And this does come from their colonial history with those countries, but they do have a number of very good and delicious Surirnamese and Indonesian restaurants. That is more unique, something you won't find in many other European cities, because they do not share that same history. So if you are going to Amsterdam, whether for vacation or studying, I would certainly highly recommend trying some Surinamese or Indonesian cuisine while you are there.

MH: What would you recommend to students thinking about studying abroad in Amsterdam in regards to language? Is Dutch necessary or is English sufficient?

WC: I always think that this is a really good opportunity and program option for students who are maybe a little bit wary of going to a country where English is not widely spoken, but are hoping to get outside of an officially fully English-speaking country – like the UK or Ireland – but are maybe a little bit too worried about going to Germany where it's full German, or in France where French is needed a little bit more. I think this is a really good, happy medium.

Dutch is certainly spoken in all the announcements, you'll hear people speaking Dutch to each other all the time, but you, as a visitor and a student on the program, do not necessarily need to know any Dutch, and can get by just fine with English. There is such a high level of proficiency in English that it does not tend to cause really any issues throughout your time there.

This is also something you'll find with your local Dutch instructors. For the most part, not always, instructors will not be super heavily accented. So when Dutch speak English – at least for the Midwestern ears of mine as someone who grew up in Michigan – it does not sound very accented to someone with a Midwest accent; it's very easy to understand.

However, I always do want to warn students, even though it does have this reputation of being very friendly for English speakers, and being a very open society, the Netherlands do have a culture of their own. It will pay dividends to have interest in that culture, and to do some research on that culture, before you go and while you are there. Although you don't need to know any Dutch, there are Dutch language courses you can take while you're there; you can do a Dutch crash course sort of situation to get some basic Dutch phrases, introductions, like how to order at dinner or at restaurants and things. I think it's definitely important to still have interest in their local Dutch, in their language and culture, even if you don't plan on learning much Dutch or using much Dutch while you're there. I do think that this program is a good balance for a non-English speaking country that does have a really high level of English proficiency.