I am Eva, a second year student at UCG and one of the many German expats in who reside in Groningen. When I tell people I study Liberal Arts and Sciences, I encounter many surprised faces as I belong to the few German students who don’t study Psychology or International Business. Secondly I always have to explain what Liberal Arts and Sciences actually means.  

If medicine, psychology, business or Liberal Arts and Sciences – all of us Germans here have probably bumped into the same things: 

1. Paying with cash has become such a middle-age practice.. In Holland we’ll tap the card for literally everything, so then you return to Germany with maybe five cents in the wallet and all of a sudden you have to make excursions to the ATM again because you can’t pin for the cucumber on the market anymore..
2. “So how much dutch do you know?”, you’ll be asked at home. Ehhmm “Bonnetje mee”… You will see yourself getting away with only knowing the necessities for the interactions with the cashiers. Everyone here speaks perfect English and you can actually understand quite some Dutch if you try hard. Still, no excuse not to learn Dutch!
3. Back in Germany, you’ll have completely forgotten how stranded you are on Sundays when shops are closed.. Shopping sprees on Sunday afternoon have become such a normality!
4. Your German friends might mock you for having to sit in a lecture hall in March while they are on Holiday. But just wait until you are festival hopping in July when summer is at its peak, and all they get to see is the inside of the library.
5. Especially if you are an UCG student and constantly in an international environment, English has become so embedded in your daily life, you’ll find yourself struggling to string two words together in German. One thing I must say: you do look pretty cosmopolitan when you start ordering your coffee in English..  
6. You’ll be surprised about how laid back the Dutch lifestyle is.. Meanwhile in Germany, you feel like a criminal riding on the back of someone’s bike. If you put a couch in front of the house in Germany and drink a beer with your mates, you’ll probably face an angry neighbour or a police officer asking you if you have a license to do that..
7. While it is not uncommon in the Netherlands, having a cat, two staircases in your house and a little garden seems pretty absurd to most of the German students. They’ll probably think you’re starting to settle down now..
8. Ain't such thing as a Dinkelvollkornbrot in the Netherlands..The absence of German bread might be tough in the beginning, but promise me, here in Holland you’ll discover your sweet tooth! Stroopwafles and all the other sweet pastries are a pretty good supplement for German bread.
9. You might not have February and March off, but getting a week off in between each block really has its perks: you can travel cheaply (nobody else gets off during these times) and you get back to Uni feeling refreshed. Also, if you find yourself in a middle of a crisis, you can always tell yourself, the end of the block is near.
10. Many of the Germans here have formed their own German networks. You’ll make the experience of attending a party and just introducing yourself in German, already assuming everyone speaks German. That does not appeal to you? No Problem! The thing that makes UCG so unique is that you will be surrounded by so many Dutch and international students, that you won’t run the risk of entering the “German bubble”.