How to prepare yourself for student life in Groningen
Are you coming to study in Groningen in September?
Are you trying to prepare yourself for the first weeks in Groningen?
Are you feeling overwhelmed and don’t know what to expect from student life in Groningen?
Are you worried that you will not make any friends in Groningen?
If you have answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then this is the blog for you!
Starting university is always a big challenge, let alone starting university in a different city in a foreign country. You might be wondering what to expect from (student) life in Groningen. Don’t worry, you are not the only one! In this blog, we will share with you the ways in which you can prepare yourself for your stay in Groningen, from introductory activities to useful websites and podcasts. Check it out!
Once you get to Groningen, there are different introductory activities that you can join to meet new people and to get to know the city. The two biggest introduction events are the KEI week and the ESN Introduction Week. The KEI Week is from the 16th until the 20th of August and is a general introduction week for all first-year students. During the week you will get to know the city and all aspects of your life as a student. For more information on the KEI Week, click here.The ESN Introduction Week is from the 3rd of September until the 8th of September and is more tailored towards international students that are new to Groningen. During the Introduction Week you will get to know fellow new students and get introduced to the amazing city of Groningen. For more information on the ESN Introduction Week, click here. If these two introduction weeks are not enough for you and/or you’re looking for more low key activities, you can also join the ESN Summer Activities. These will take place from the 23rd of August until the 28th August. The ESN Summer Activities are different activities organised for everyone and anyone interested in fighting the summer boredom. The content and exact dates of the activities are still unknown, but keep an eye out on the social media of ESN Groningen if you’re interested!
Don’t want to wait until you’re in Groningen to discover the student life? Before you even arrive in Groningen, you can already explore the city virtually by playing the ‘Virtual Groninger’ game, click here to go to the game. Within the game, you can already experience the student life in Groningen: discover the city centre, the student houses, some of the universities, and even the night life! You can also add locations to ‘favourites’, so you can access them easily when visiting in real life. Become a #virtualgroninger!
Next to the game, there is already lots of information available about Groningen and its student life on the internet, below you can find different links to useful websites/podcasts/blogs. The list is not exhaustive, but hopefully you can still get enough information to prepare you for your studies in Groningen.
- On the website of ESN Groningen (https://www.esn-groningen.nl/) you can also find a lot of information about Groningen and of course about the organisation itself.
- On the website nl/en you can find a lot of interesting information on all aspects of Groningen, such as the hotspots, the associations, housing, sports, but also practical information.
- The University of Groningen has also created some videos in the past to introduce the city to international students. Click here for the International Student Guide to Groningen (ISGTG) and here for another Introduction to Groningen.
- Rather listen to the information? That’s also possible! In collaboration with Here&Now Groningen, ESN Groningen created the podcast series ‘Making the Most of it’ and the first episode is about socialisation and making friends, listen here! (There are more episodes coming, so stay tuned). We also made a podcast specifically about student life and the associations in Groningen, you can listen to that here!
- You can already join our facebook group ‘ESN Groningen 2021/2022’ to meet some people!
- There are also some old blog posts that might be useful and interesting to read when you are new to Groningen:
Hopefully these tips and information have helped you a little bit to prepare yourself for student life in Groningen!
This blog is part of the Space to Create Your Future campaign, a campaign designed to welcome (international) students to Groningen and help them get to know the city. Groningen gives students the freedom to develop and thrive, and all the space they need to become who they are meant to be. It’s the place where you can determine the future – your future. Groningen represents the space to create your future.