SASKIA (3rd year)

"I first learned about International Studies when I was still in high school in Germany. We had a school trip to the Netherlands where we visited Amsterdam but also The Hague. There, an International Studies student showed us around the buildings and held a presentation about the study programme. I was practically sold when he told us about the possibility to focus on a specific area, in which we can dive deeper into politics, history, economics and culture. When I started looking for Bachelor programmes I tried to look up similar studies in Germany but since that trip, I had not stopped thinking about studying in the Netherlands.

My interests always gravitated towards the region of Russia and Eurasia because I am half-Russian myself, a big part of my family lives there and I spent many holidays there. So, I knew the country from a little girl’s eyes perspective, but I have always wanted to know more about the politics and the history of the region. In high school, the focus of history classes was primarily on Germany, therefore, we never really learned a lot about other regions. So, by focusing on a region during my studies I was able to learn about countries and issues that my family knew about but others may have never heard of.

After more than two years of studying International Studies, I feel like I have gained so much more knowledge than ‘just’ about the region. In a way, my thinking also got elevated to a whole new level. Rather than just absorbing information, I am more aware of other people’s points of view and how to critically evaluate them and put them into perspective. Of course, there were difficult moments but overall choosing to study in the Netherlands has been the best decision."

(Saskia, 3rd year, Germany)