When arriving for my first day of University in Groningen, it was strange. I had chatted to one or two other internationals online, apart from that I did not know anyone. Regardless, I quickly found friends in my tutorials and got used to Mathematics in Groningen. The lecture side of life is barely interesting, very simply, up at 9am, cycle to zernike, study for a bit, then home. Yet, through friends I joined the student organisation T.F.V. ‘Professor Francken’. Through Francken I started to socialise with Dutch people more, I even learnt a bit of dutch (even though I can’t pronounce it).

Being an international in Francken isn’t much different than a standard dutch student. Naturally there is some level of a language barrier. Not everyone speaks perfect English (albeit most English I hear is very good). Also, most conversations are In Dutch. Francken members are starting to speak more English when I’m around which is nice. Francken has really accepted my inability to speak Dutch, and once the first question of “Oh, you’re English, where are you from.. London?” is out of the way, I can happily chat with whoever and more importantly drink with them, ironically when I am drunk my English is even worse than other drunk Francken members. Not that we drink a lot...

Since, coming to Groningen 3 months ago, I have learnt one very important tool to surviving here, cycling intoxicated. After the first 3 weeks, of crashing every night out on the way home, I seem to have improved. To any future internationals coming to Groningen, I recommend learning to cycle drunk, fast. Most Francken events are at the university, with a 30 minute cycle back to my flat, I have cycled quite a lot. Not that I’m perfect, coming back from the Beer Pong Competition at Franken was a real strain on my cycling skills. It becomes a real test to leave the university at 11pm, cycling home in the battering rain, then back at the university for a 2 hour lecture on linear algebra at 9am.

This really sums up my life at University, putting up with the studying, drinking then cycling home, all while spending half my time having no idea what anyone is saying. Frankly though, I wouldn’t want it any other way.