1 My Experience Abroad
To a future exchange student,
I am Bram Konings, I am 21 years old and I am from the southernmost city of the Netherlands, Maastricht. I study Middle Eastern Studies BA at Groningen University. A vital part of my studies is language. In the first year the bachelor, every Middle Eastern student has to choose a language, either Hebrew or Arabic. Because I am most interested in Israel, I chose Hebrew as my language. In the second year of the bachelor, every student gets to study abroad. Because I chose Hebrew as my language, I got to go to the Promised Land, the Land of Milk en Honey: Israel.
I was very excited to go to Israel, but before I could leave, a lot of things had to be settled. Firstly, I had to make sure to be accepted at the university in Israel. Once I was accepted, I could start dealing with all the financial issues, like the Marco Polo Grant, payment for housing and flight tickets. Once, all the financial issues were dealt with, I went to the Israeli embassy to get my visa, which was not the easiest part of the preparation process; you will need to provide with a lot of forms and documents and the Israeli embassy is not the easiest and best organised existing. At the end of December, I got my visa, and everything was settled.
On January second I left The Netherlands for Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. In the evening I took the train to Be’er Sheva, where I participated in the Overseas Student Program at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). After the introduction weekend, I did not immediately start my studies. I was given the opportunity to do an intensive Hebrew Language course (in Hebrew: Ulpan). I studied Hebrew intensively 3 hours a day, 5 days a week (Sunday to Thursday; the Israeli working week) for six weeks long, until the middle of February. I already studied Hebrew for three semesters in Groningen, but in Israel, I made major steps in my proficiency in the Hebrew language. During the course, the emphasis was primarily on speaking, while the teacher provided us with a grammatical framework to speak in, as I would like to call it. The best part of the first six weeks was that I studied Hebrew in class in the morning and that I got to practice my language skills on the street, in the supermarket and in the evening in a pub with friends. The Ulpan course was very useful for me, and the end of the course I had little problems with communicating with native Israelis. Since the Ulpan course is not mandatory, I had to pay for it myself, but still I would recommend everyone who is going to study in Israel to take a Hebrew language course, it really enriches your Israeli experience, because through language one can actually emerge deeply into the culture.
In the last week of February, the actual semester at BGU started. Earlier I already had to choose the courses I wanted to take during the semester. I wanted to broaden my horizon of knowledge during my exchange, so I took a lot of courses (about 8) on a lot of different subjects, like Ecology of Drylands, Water Management in the Middle East, the Bible, Israeli Diplomacy, the memory of the Holocaust in Israeli Society and worldwide Jewish communities. Besides, I also took an extra (less intensive) Hebrew course during the semester, only 1,5 hours per day, three days per week. I really enjoyed taking all of my courses. I really broadened my knowledge on the Middle East in general, and Israel, and all its aspects, in particular. For each course (except for Hebrew), I had one weekly lecture. Every week, I also had to do weekly readings and assignments. I also went on many field trips with certain courses. For example, in my Ecology of Drylands class, one week we studied a certain aspect or part of the Negev Desert, and the
2 next week I visited that certain part, to experience and study drylands with my own eyes. We also visited the Dead Sea and Jewish communities throughout Israel. I also had a lot of free time during the semester, so I and my friends made many trips throughout the country. Also many trips were organised by the international department of BGU During my half year in Israel I discovered almost every corner of the country: The Holy city of Jerusalem with its history, the modern and vibrant city of Tel Aviv with its beautiful beaches and overwhelming nightlife, and of course Israel’s beautiful nature: Israel has two deserts, three seas, the lowest point on earth and snowy mountain tops, everything one can wish for. I especially fell in love with the desert, it is such a beautiful place, it is so much more than a dry, hot, barren and sandy place, there is so much to see, there is so much life… (I could go on and on and on)
Like I already mentioned before, I studied at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in the desert city of Be’er Sheva, with which Groningen University has a partnership with. Be’er Sheva, or B7 (Sheva means seven in Hebrew) or BaSH, as the students call the city, has a very fresh and vibrant student life, which is centred around the university neighbourhood. BGU and the city of B7 match more or less the size and population of Groningen. In the student neighbourhood (Dalet), there are a lot of nice restaurants, bars and food stands. Across the street from the main BGU campus are the student dormitories, where I stayed for half a year. I lived there together with both international and Israeli students.
Although I had been to Israel a few times before for vacation or to visit family, it still took me a few weeks to completely adjust to the Israeli daily life; where to get groceries, where to take public transportation and how to deal with all the Jewish religion in Israeli daily life, which plays a major role in daily life. For example, there is no public transportation during the weekends (Shabbat), and most stores are closed during the weekends and on religious holidays. This can be limiting, but in my opinion, it is part of the Israeli experience, so I learned quickly how to deal with it.
Altogether, I had the best time, maybe the time of my life. I visited so many beautiful places, met so many lovely people from all over the world, and I made so many new friends. On top of that, I also learned a lot, I broadened my knowledge on many topics in my field of study and I improved my Hebrew skills. I fell in love with Israel even more during the past half year, the people are lovely, the country is beautiful, and another vital part: the food is amazing. I could recommend to everyone to spend your exchange semester in Israel, it has so much to offer. I am surely going back very soon…
Please contact me for any further questions. ,תוארתהל
See you, Bram Konings
