Well, next year I might be doing the Erasmus program for 9 months to another city, and I dont really know wher to goo. I have a few ideas, but I was thinking you guys could help me out a bit.
Im currently studying second year of Biology in Madrid, and next year I could go (amongst other less atractive places) to Birmingham, Amsterdam or Utrech, and I dont know which one of them to chose.

On first place I want to go to enrich myself, to get to know new places, cultures and people, and because I find the experience very ineresting.
On second place I wanted to improve my level of english, which has been decreasing since I went out of school and started university. The classes both at Amsterdam and Utrech will be in english, however I guess the teachers will be from Holland, so they will have some accent, and out of the campus I might not talk in english at all.


Well, I wanted to know freom you guys, from first hand personal experiences, what do you think about those places and help me out on chosing my Erasmus destiny, as Im not sure where to go.

I mean, I want to improve my english level, but if birmingham is too boring I might go to Utrech or Amsterdam (which I love their culture and the way things go over there) for the experience more than because of my english.


Well, any help will be greatly aprreciated, as I know nothing about these cities.


Cheers and thanks in advance!

:)

Utrecht.

Everyone has an accent, especially brits. And since you porbably don't speak dutch you'll be talking english in both countries. If you want to experience various cultures you'd probably be better off in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam has a shitload of resident foreign students and is generally more geared towards non-dutch. Utrecht is a nice city too though, afterall I was born there. :)

If you want to improve your English do not go to Birmingham, just don't go to Birmingham whatever; its greasy and packed full of crazy racists and extremist Muslims.
You'd find a lot of people in Amsterdam who speak English better than any Birmingham native and it is certainly a nicer city than Birmingham.

Hahaha, thanks for your replies, thats exactly the type of answer I was looking for. Thanks alot.

I guess then my first option might be Amsterdam (because of the language, more aimed at english) and then Utecht on second place.

However Im not going to Birmingham, you guys have convinced me ;)

One final thing, wouldnt Amsterdam be a little too caotic or "party aimed"? I mean, when I went there in summer doing the Interrail there were lots of people and lots of things going on at the same time, I dont know if I could study... hehe.
However if Utrecht is too calm I might be going to Amsterdam eather way... Can you tell me something more about Utrecht, Fza? (Places to go out at night, people, size of the city... etc etc..)


Thanks alot for your answers, seriously.

Cheers!


:)

Utrecht is the 4th biggest city in the Netherlands, not really at home in the nightlife. Although I was born there I never lived there, my parents lived in a small town near it when I was young.

But I have a friend to went to college there so. Nightlife is good, nightlife in any big dutch city is good, and since it's a small country you can easily get to all the other big cities in a small amount of time. Most big cities are located in the west of the Netherlands. In the provinces North-Holland (Amsterdam etc.), South-Holland (Rotterdam etc.) and Utrecht (Utrecht is the name of a province and the city Utrecht is in it). You can get from Utrecht to Amsterdam in 30 minutes by train and if you don't mind sleeping (or waiting :p) in the central station in the morning you can basically go out where ever you want.

It lacks a bit with culture, but it's a great city with a nice atmosphere, just as beautiful as Amsterdam but a bit smaller. Less tourists, less crime. And the only mall like place in the whole country, which is probably a plus for a lot of foreigners that aren't used to having a big city centre where everything is scattered.

I'd suggest Amsterdam for you though, because the big numbers of tourists and international students make it generally more geared towards non-dutch like I said before. + the university is better I believe.

Amsterdam has a shitload of bars and coffeeshops but every city has that, Amsterdam is just a bit extreme because of the metric buttloads of tourists that go there. Most tourists don't even visit any other places in my country I think. Amsterdam itself has about 800.000 inhabitants and it has 4.5 million foreign visitors each year. So you can see what scale of tourism we're talking about.

Fza, thanks alot for your answer, seriosuly.
You dont know how much you have helped me out...

Thanks and a million times thanks :)


I then will go to Amsterdam, you gave me very good reasons. However Ill put Utrcht on second place.


Thanks again!

:)


EDIT: I like the idea of getting a train and travelling to another part of the country easily and fast. We dont have that in spain cause its bigger and it takes too long to go from one place to another... But I like the idea alot.

Fza, thanks alot for your answer, seriosuly.
You dont know how much you have helped me out...

Thanks and a million times thanks :)


I then will go to Amsterdam, you gave me very good reasons. However Ill put Utrcht on second place.


Thanks again!

:)


EDIT: I like the idea of getting a train and travelling to another part of the country easily and fast. We dont have that in spain cause its bigger and it takes too long to go from one place to another... But I like the idea alot.

So...when you're in Amsterdam...let us know, there's quite a few members around that area now.

We tried setting up a meet before, but aparently Netherland Totseans are pussies and are scared to meet with strangers. Cause mysteriously they all canceled for some bullshit reason...

Sure ;)

As soon as I get there Ill let you guys know... Which will be around october from the nex year, hehe.
Lets see if Im lucky and theres a vacant place to go there.


Cheers ;)