University of Wisconsin–Madison

Netherlands: Heewone Lim (Daily Life in Utrecht)

Daily Life in Utrecht

A bagel with an avocado and lox spread is on a yellow and white plate.
My very American breakfast of a bagel with avocado and lox

It’s been just over a month since I moved to Utrecht, and I’ve settled into a new routine here. This is what an week looks like for me:

8:30-9:30 AM: Breakfast! I’ll usually make myself a dirty chai (shoutout caffeine, the universal elixir of life among university students) and something to eat, like yogurt or avocado toast.

9:00 AM-5:30 PM: The class scheduling system between UCU and UW are very different. While I’m used to blocking off the same period of time every other day for a class, time slots feel a little bit more random here. Each class meets twice a week and is an hour and 45 minutes long, with a 15 minute break. I’m taking three classes this semester: Beginner Dutch, International Law and International Journalism.

A wall divided into nine squares, each with a balcony overlooking the library. Seven of the squares are filled with books, and the other two contain a rounded window.
The university library in the city center! Very Instagrammable

5:30 PM-9 PM: You can find me spending my evenings at a couple of different clubs. RunCo meets Monday and Wednesday. They host specialty runs every once in a while, such as a Pancake Run, where participants run to a restaurant and run back to campus after a delicious treat! The campus improv club, Unwritten Co, takes up my Friday evenings and we usually head to dinner together afterwards. I’ve been fortunate enough to have gotten into Unwritten Co’s bi-annual Murder Mystery show, so we also rehearse together twice a week.

An abstract metal sculpture of a head looking upwards breathing fire, sitting in a grassy field surrounded by trees.
A cool sculpture I spotted in Wilhelmina Park

Wednesday nights: One of my goals during my time here is to soak up as much Dutch as possible! Since UCU’s curriculum is taught in English, going off campus to Language Cafe in the city center has really helped me hone my language skills. They also offer a variety of languages other than Dutch, such as Portuguese and Turkish.

When I have free time, I’ll usually bike into the city center to study at the university library or go for a walk in Wilhelmina Park.

Until next time!

Doei doei,
Heewone

Heewone smiles in front of a window overlooking a lake on a foggy day.

Heewone Lim 

Major: Journalism

Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin

Program: University College Utrecht Honors Exchange in the Netherlands