Today marks my third week living in Tilburg and boy has it been a full on experience already. From enjoying the last whirlwind moments of my 6 week European adventure to slowing down and settling into my own room and experiencing the CRAZIEST orientation week I’ve ever been a part of, I can definitely say that exchange has started off with a bang.

Registration

I arrived in Tilburg on 17 August (a day earlier than I had planned), which was the second day of registration. These registration days were days that Tilburg University had organised specifically for newly arriving exchange students to help settle us in and get all the admin stuff out of the way.

This included free transfers by mentors from Tilburg Universiteit station to the uni, finding out our mentor group for orientation week, opening a Dutch bank account, meeting I*ESN (the university’s International Erasmus Student Network for internationally minded students. They organise parties every week and most importantly orientation week known as TOP week. More about this later), and free transfers to our accommodation.

If I arrived outside of registration, I would have had to do everything myself. So I would highly recommend arriving on one of these days to sort things out!

Immigration

Part of moving to a different country and studying means there is a bit of admin to do to make sure you’re legally there. For me this meant attending two of Immigration meetings – one to organise my residence permit and two to register my presence with the municipality of Tilburg.

TIP: Make sure you keep an eye on your email and note down the times of your appointments. I, unfortunately, missed my residence permit appointment because I didn’t read the email properly from the University Immigration Office (and thought I had already attended my appointment but that was only for the municipality).

After that, I had to organise my own meeting with the Immigration Office, which was a bit more of a hassle without help from the Univerity. Don’t be like me and check your emails!

Get a bike!

As soon as you arrive, get yourself a bike! For orientation week and while you’re at uni, the easiest way to get around is by bike. Check out the I*ESN Marketplace group on Facebook for a second hand bike (make sure the lights work and if you’re lucky it could come with a lock).

TIP: Make sure to lock your bike at all times (and remember where your key is!) I had a scare that someone tried to steal my bike, but turns out my key was just lost in my pocket haha

TOP Week

Now onto the more exciting stuff! As part of registration, we had the option to join TOP week which is Tilburg University’s official orientation week.

The cost was roughly 75Euros, but it was so worth it!

Each day had a different activity for us to get to know our fellow exchange friends, get to know the university and find out our alcohol tolerance levels haha

Day 1: Games around Tilburg // BBQ // TOP ON 

The games around Tilburg were super cool because the whole town got involved with letting us play beer pong, doing challenges, drunk yoga to name a few. It really felt cosy and like a university town.

Next we had a BBQ in a massive hall filled with all Tilburg students (1000s of students). Then we moved into another hall and it was like a rave complete with a light show and dj at the front. It was intense and completely surpassed expectations of an orientation kick off!

Day 2: Sports Day

We arrived at a park with games (jumping castle courses, water and soap hockey, soccer) and many student associations. So much better than O-day back at home.

Day 3: CANTUS

Holy moly, this was an amazing day – imagine unlimited beer, singing at the top of your lungs, drunk in the middle of the day.

All our mentors had told us this was not to be missed and I’m so glad it lived up to expectations! We sang classics like Robbie Williams, Sweet Caroline intermixed with fun Dutch songs. The band would play and we would sing along. Then we would sing a German “drinking” song and we would all cheeeers after every song.

Now you can imagine the rest! At the end we were on the tables and throwing beer and having so much fun.

Day 4: TOP Festival

Our group took it chill at a park instead of attending the music festival and stayed back at our mentor’s house for beer pong.

Day 5: Sports and Chill // TOP Off

We ended the week with another music rave like the first night. And congratulated ourselves for surviving a 5-day bender!

Every Tuesday

I feel that our group got very close and when we went away for the weekend, it was strange to not be with everyone else.

Thank goodness we still meet every Tuesday! And from my mentor group, I made some good friends. One who I went to Budapest with the week after after booking tickets during TOP Week! (More about this in a later post).

Now onto the rest of exchange!!!