My name is Emily and I’m a third-year international student from Luxembourg studying International Tourism Management at Tio University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam. I am currently doing my minor abroad and I am studying at Turiba University in Riga, Latvia.
Once in a lifetime experience
I decided to study abroad as it is a once in a lifetime experience, I wanted to go to a unique city that I usually would not go to and I love meeting new people. Another reason why I chose for a minor study abroad is the fact that I would get to study different subjects than I could follow at Tio in Amsterdam.
Living on campus
Currently I am living in a student hostel, which is situated on campus. In the hostel I am sharing a room with Maartje, another Dutch student from Tio, and we live with students from a lot of different countries; Kazakhstan, Portugal, Germany, Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia and Uzbekistan, amongst others. Living on campus and living in the hostel has been a great experience. We attend a lot of different events organised by the Erasmus student network. It’s also nice living so close to the classrooms as I don’t lose a lot of time commuting everyday.
Latvian view on the tourism world
The classes I am following are great, most of them are tourism related but nevertheless I could not have followed any of these courses at Tio in Amsterdam. It’s a really fun experience to get taught by Latvian teachers as they have a different view on the tourism world than Dutch teachers, and they also use local examples. Some examples of classes I am taking are: tourism economics and globalisation, rural tourism, tourism information systems and city as a sustainable tourism destination.
Great time in Riga
I’m really grateful for this experience; I managed to make great friends and we are travelling a lot and we often do fun activities in Riga centre. Living in a different country gives you different outlook on life and even though Latvia is close to the Netherlands, it still feels very different and less European. Overall, I’m having a great time here in Riga and I’m really happy to have three months left; I would recommend a minor study abroad to anyone who has the chance!