For my beloved family and friends

3 months already! Not a long time but so many experiences I’ve gained from the first day the very beautiful Netherlands welcome me, also the first time in my life I am outside my home country. Actually my first impression for the Netherlands didn’t come from the beauty of the country from the sky when the plane was about to land on but it’s the warm help and enthusiasm of the two Dutch friends I met in the flight. I find myself so lucky to meet those very kind people who surprisingly were also alumni of Utrecht University. Now thinking back I still wonder how a small Asian girl like me could manage with a lot of luggage without their help. J. Arriving 2 weeks earlier before the school year is efficient for me to get familiar to the new environment, the different cultures and beauty and also gives me a chance to take memorable trips to Amsterdam and Maastricht with my new friends in the Netherlands. Well, time for settling down and traveling was enough and the school year was coming. I was very eager to challenge myself in a very different learning system compared to my home country. First I have some difficulties in having lectures in English because in my bachelor program every subject was taught only in Vietnamese. However, to overcome this weakness in language of mine, I try to read all the required materials before going to class. And gradually I understand the lectures thoroughly and whenever having a question I do not hesitate to ask the lecturer and tutor. Another challenge for me in the first period is the new method of studying which emphasizes self-study and research paper. At first when being assigned a group project I was stuck and did not know what to do. However, after asking for help from both the lecturers and my friendly classmates, I begin to be interested in doing the paper (not only consider it as a task to perform) and try my best to cooperate with my group members to make it perfect. And all of my effort was compensated by the acceptable grades for the two courses which are on average of 8.0. I am very happy and feel more confident to prepare for other more specialized courses in this second period. Both two new courses are very difficult and therefore require more effort. So I have to work harder and try more to get as much knowledge as possible.