Netherlands: Maastricht University - Undergraduate Coursework

Right in the heart of Europe, this beautiful little city is located in the southern Limburg region of the Netherlands. It is a bicycle ride away from the Belgian border and a quick bus trip to the Germany. This largely student city combines Dutch culture with the surrounding European countries with delightful architecture, plenty of shopping, and a great food and bar scene.
If your goal is to travel around Europe during your time here (which you absolutely should), Maastricht is about 1.5 hours bus ride from Brussels Airport in Belgium and Cologne/Bönn Airport. Also nearby is Eindhoven Airport and not too much farther is Brussels Charleroi Airport. So you have plenty of options for cheap flights all around the continent.
However, Maastricht is the perfect city to explore as well. There are plenty of student events and clubs that you can get involved in, several museums, and charming parks. You'll probably quickly become friends with your hallmates at the UM Guesthouse who will be from all over the US, Europe and around the world. My hall was made up of Americans, Spanish, Portuguese and Northern Irish people and throughout the semester we became like a little family to come home to after weekend adventures.
You'll also have plenty of opportunities in class to meet full-time and other international students. The classes here tend to be a bit more challenging as much of the university runs on the Problem-Based Learning approach where much of the learning is done in small groups with a tutor present to help guide the discussions. The upside to this is the small class size, but the downside is that it generally requires more independent study and time dedicated to class. It may take sometime to get used to, but don't worry, the staff at the Center for European Studies (CES) are a big resource! They are all extremely kind and willing to help you with anything during your time in Maastricht. They also organize study trips to different cities around Europe, a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (Fall Semester), and so much more.
Maastricht became my second home during my time here and it was definitely the highlight of my university experience to study here through USAC. I hope it will be for you too!

Maastricht is a small town in the Southernmost province of the Netherlands, nestled just 2 hours from both Brussels and Cologne. You'll feel immediately at home in this quaint town. Meeting other people is easy as you live in an international guesthouse with not just other Americans, but students from all over the world. In classes, there is no separation between you and the traditional Maastricht University students. With a ton of faculties, it is possible to take courses in nearly every field of study with ease. Many of the American students complete their program through the Center for European Studies (CES), which is a great group of advisors who take you step by step through the application process, choosing and registering for classes, and organize trips with the whole group throughout the semester (Berlin, Paris, etc.). I could not have imagined a better program, for it was nice to have a smaller town to come back to every week after traveling, the immense help from the CES team, the people I got the chance to meet and the amazing courses I got the chance to take.

Maastricht was a great place to study, good location and lots of things to do around the city plus easy to get to multiple large airports for travel on weekends. Classes were challenging but not impossible. Very international environment, just in my corridor in the guesthouse I lived with 2 Canadians, 1 Spainiard, 1 Brazilian, 1 Belgian, 1 Austrian, and a Colombian. Maastricht has a lot of good nightlife as well, we never struggled to find something to do.

I enjoyed Maastricht because it was a small enough city where I felt safe and could easily bike or walk where I needed to go. Even though I felt bad for not knowing more Dutch, everyone was pretty nice about speaking English to me. I was able to take weekend trips to different places (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, etc) but I still had a comfortable home base in Maastricht. I have a very limited diet so my study abroad experience wasn't as dependent on food as that of some people, but I ate so many frites (French fries) it was kind of crazy. If you can eat food though, Maastricht is home to many Michelin-Star rated restaurants. It is also big for fashion and shopping. I enjoyed the city and my time abroad. I think the living facilities could be renovated but they were still decent. My classes were very interesting and I enjoyed having an international layer to my coursework due to everyone being from different countries.