Two Weeks At TU Delft

After the two-week introduction program has finished yesterday, now I definitely know what it means to study at one of the top 10 universities in the world. I’ve experienced four introduction programs in my life, including TU Delft’s, in four different parts of the world and as a local and international student, and I would say with no hesitation; TU Delft has taken it to a whole new LEVEL!!

I wanna start by telling you why I chose to go for exchange. Honestly, I saw the exchange semester as an opportunity to take courses that I am personally interested in and are not offered at UTS (I know it’s different than why most of you plan for exchange, especially bachelor students!). For that reason, I decided to visit a couple of European cities before I start my semester especially that it’s hard to find time to travel during the semester as the semester is basically two quarters here at TU Delft which means more pressure!

Since TU Delft is located in a small, but historic, student town, I felt like it’s gonna be somehow boring especially that I’ve lived all my life in the city center of big cities. However, I literally did not have the time to think about that since I came here. To better describe the Introduction program IP, I will start with talking about the IP app! The app is basically the platform where you can find all the activities, parties, events, etc! I first signed up for a shuttle service which is a free ride from the airport to the welcome desk at uni at which i got the keys for my room. Then using the app, I signed up for all the activities, parties, trips, small tournaments, etc for the past two weeks. During the past two weeks, I’ve been sailing, wind surfing, swimming, pub-crawling, partying, playing tennis, football (soccer in Australia!!), and beach volleyball. I also went on trips to other cities in the Nederland; Rotterdam and The Hague. All these activities are completely part of the IP.

Through the IP, I signed up for two local and international associations. Also, through IP I was linked to different travel agencies who offer relatively cheap trips world-wide! As for visiting other European cities; tomorrow I will relive the good memories I previously had in Amsterdam (But now not as a tourist!) with some friends and I’m planning to visit my cousin in Paris, my friends in Barcelona, Geneva, Brussels, Milano, and Florence. One last thing, I have to mention that the food here sucks! If I exclude Stroopwafel (which is basically two baked dough with a caramel-like syrup filling in the middle), there is literally no traditional food here to remember!

Finally, I look forward to experiencing the project-oriented courses here (which I personally prefer!) with the official master kick-off next Monday. I would strongly recommend TU Delft to whoever is willing to put some effort during the semester in exchange to a remarkable REAL INTERNATIONAL environment!

Fahmi Abu Baker

12663694

Master of Engineering Master of Engineering Management – Structural (MEMEM)

Delft University of Technology – TU Delft

The Netherland