THE EXPERIENCE REPORT
ANR:
Name:
E-mail:
Exchange semester:
Academic year:
Host University:
Country:
294202
Erik Braun
ecmbraun@gmail.com
Spring, 2015
2014-2015
The University of Texas at El Paso
The United States of America
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is located on the west-side of El Paso in one of
the more fancier neighborhoods. It’s situated on a walking distance from downtown El Paso
and the border with Mexico (a 30-45 minutes’ walk). El Paso is a big border city and is
shaped in the form of an U with the mountain in the middle. On the other end of the border is
the Mexican city Juarez, which was, a few years ago, one of the most dangerous cities in the
world. El Paso on the other end is one of the safest cities in the United States. The city is,
because of the mountain, more elevated than Juarez, so even when you are on campus you
can have a good view over Juarez. Downtown and the campus area however are completely
safe places to walk around.
The campus is quite big, it takes about 25 minutes to walk from one end to the other.
Designed in a Bhutanese style, the buildings look beautiful when seen in sunlight. El Paso is
the ‘sun city’ so you will see the campus often in sunlight. UTEP offers many places to grab
something to eat on multiple locations throughout the campus. Located on the right is Mesa
Street, which offers even more places to eat something and places to grab a drink as well. If
you want to do some sports you should go to the recreational center up north (students call it:
‘the rec’). The use of this facility is free for students, you only have to show your Miner ID card
to gain entrance.
If you go to El Paso you will see that it’s quite different from Tilburg. As any American city it is
build for practical use of a car. An old city core you will not find, simply because the United
States is not old enough to have something like that. If you really want to explore El Paso,
having a car is really practical. You should take a walk through the downtown area and
definitely go to ‘scenic view’, which offers a beautiful view of El Paso (especially at night).
UTEP, each year, facilitates 23.000 undergraduate and graduate students, a number which is
increasing every year. It currently has seven different faculty divisions, namely: college of
business, education, engineering, health sciences, nursing, liberal arts and science. A typical
school year is divided in a fall and spring semester.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
The pre-arrival information arrived 2-3 weeks before the semester was going to start. It
contained the main points about the exchange as housing information and information about
the meal plan. In the following months more specific information was provided by UTEP by email.
Visa procedure and arrival
Because choosing for ISEP means that you will know the place of placement just a few
months before the semester start you have a very small amount of time to do the necessary
paperwork like your visa. This will give you some level of stress, don’t be worried though,
everything is going to be fine. Just act quickly when you receive necessary information to
obtain your visa and you will obtain it in time. To obtain your visa you have to go to the
American Embassy, which is located at the Museumplein in Amsterdam. You cannot bring
electric devices inside the embassy (even your phone) so I suggest you should go with
someone or don’t bring any electric device at all to prevent unnecessary hours of waiting. The
visa cost around 135 euro.
Before your flight you will receive an e-mail from the Miner Trotters (which is the organization
of UTEP concerned with exchange students). They will ask you to tell then when your flight
arrives so they can arrange a pick up from the airport. The person picking you up will probably
be your buddy for the semester. Your pick up will deliver you to your housing and help with
the formalities. Once you arrive in the apartment you are on your own. My apartment was
completely empty because my roommate had still to arrive as well. The apartment was empty,
only furniture was included (couch, bed, kitchen etc.). You can request a starters kit at the
study abroad office, which is about 200 dollars. It provides sheets and a pillow for your bed
and some plates, forks, knives etc. In my opinion the starters kit was sufficient to survive in
the apartment for a semester. My roommate bought a TV and a microwave (which stopped
working after two months). You will find out that you really are on your own from the moment
they drop you off, but in my opinion that’s a good thing because from the start you need to be
focused and you learn to adjust quickly in this weird new place.
Orientation/Introduction activities
An orientation meeting was organized, although the date and time changed a few times. The
orientation is thorough and teaches you the most important things about the university and
the exchange. However, if you arrive quite some time before this meeting you will probably
have found out many things yourself already. The key for me to make this exchange work
was to find out as much possible by yourself because the information provided by the school
sometimes can be a bit late.
Housing
UTEP provides you with on campus housing. There are two places on campus where they
can put you, namely: Miner Heights and Miner Village. Before you leave to El Paso you can
check on a website where you are going to be placed and who is going to be your roommate.
I stayed at Miner Heights, which was a very nice place to live and consisted of many
apartments. You can have one, two or three roommates in your apartment. As said before,
the apartment is quite empty. Everything besides the furniture you have to buy yourself. Living
in Miner Heights is awesome and you really live in a community of different nationalities.
Activities are organized like barbeques which really create a community. You will never feel
alone.
Living Costs
Because you are not studying in Europe you will not receive an Erasmus Grant. However, if
you are not eligible for that, the University of Tilburg provides an additional grant of 750 euro
to a restricted amount of students. First come first serve, so be quick.
In El Paso you will receive a meal plan of 1750 dollars. First it will be put on you UTEP
account but you can withdraw the money so you can spend it wherever you like. A big grocery
store is situated about 20 minutes away by foot. In my opinion the meal plan is sufficient to
buy groceries during the semester. The level of the prices is quite the same as in The
Netherlands. Most of my own saved money that I spend was on adventures and going out.
That was expensive, mostly because of the tipping culture in the United States. Almost
everywhere you have to tip, only at the grocery store you don’t have to tip.

Please outline your approximate monthly budget whilst on exchange:
 Housing:
paid by ISEP/UTEP
 Food:
350 dollar
 Books
300 – 350 dollar (one semester)
Academic Calendar
I arrived at the 12th of January, one week before my orientation (which was one day). The
th
classes started to following week on the 20 of January. Spring Break was quite early, it was
th
th
from the 9 until the 13 of March. The examination period is in the last week of the
th
th
semester, for me that was the 11 until the 15 of May. After that week, the semester ended,
and you are free to go as you please.
The International Office
There is an international office, which is called the Study Abroad Office. The people working
there are very friendly and always willing to help. However, information they provide is
sometimes insufficient and that’s why you should take matters in your own hand and if you
have questions: just walk by and ask.
Exchange promotion
You will experience that people over there are not used to someone from The Netherlands
and because of that they are very interested in you. They have a very positive opinion about
us and promotion therefore happens without much effort needed.
Social Activities
The University doesn’t organize social activities for the exchange students. The Miner Trotters
organization (they also provide your buddy) however does organize social activities. Going
away for a weekend to Ruidoso or a day trip to White Sands are examples of what they are
organizing. Members of the Miner Trotters organize these things on a voluntary basis and get
help from locals who are more than interested in doing things with the exchange students.
The organization of student housing organizes social activities as well for students (exchange
students included) who are living on campus. They organize smaller themed get-togethers.
It’s a great way to get to know your fellow residents.
Those contacts I used to do some more social activities as travelling together to nearby
destinations. With both locals as exchange students I visited nearby cities as Austin,
Albuquerque, Las Vegas (Grand Canyon included) and Ciudad de Juarez. After the exchange
I did some more travelling on my own for two weeks visiting Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Miami, Washington D.C. and New York (from which I flew back home).
Culture and Language
I did not experience a culture shock when I arrived at El Paso, though it was a 100% change
of environment and people. However, the change suited me well and the transition went
smoothly. One of the major differences between The Netherlands and El Paso is definitely the
Mexican/South American culture. As people from The Netherlands we make agreements and
mostly follow those directly. In this culture however, agreements are more like guidelines.
Agree to meet at 11:00 am, you will find them at your door around 11:15 – 11:30 am. Most
North-Europeans were really bothered by it but it’s just a cultural thing. I did not mind this part
of their culture, actually I liked it. My advice is to be open minded about this, don’t stress
about it and just let things happen at their pace. Things will work out eventually and the
people are very friendly and relaxed.
More in general you can say that El Paso has a real mixed culture. It’s a strange melting pot
of American, Texan and Mexican culture. In my case there were so many Brazilians that I can
add the Brazilian culture to this list. Al those cultures made the exchange very interesting and
I wasn’t bored for even a minute. Going to different cities I experienced that wherever you go
the culture is different. Texas is huge and Austin for example has a completely different
culture than El Paso has. Which isn’t strange because Texas is one-and-a-half times as big
as Germany and Texas is only one of the many states in the U.S.A. In my experience the
United States is huge and like Europe has many different cultures and subcultures. In my
opinion there is no such thing as a stereotype American. However, the American culture does
exist and you can experience that culture in every city in the U.S. Fast food chains, big cars
and being very proud of your own country are characteristics of this culture.
Personal Development
I am sure that I have developed myself a lot during my exchange. Living in a foreign country
with a different culture brought out the best in me. Facing challenges daily and finding
solutions for your problems on your own in that environment is priceless. At the same time
learning from different cultures and their positive aspects has huge value as well. It made me
question some aspects of our culture in The Netherlands and found out that it sure isn’t
perfect either. One thing I definitely learned from the foreign people I met during my exchange
was to relax more and enjoy life as it comes. That attitude creates less stress and therefore
makes people more friendly. Don’t worry be happy. I will never forget that people who taught
me that.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
Academic level at a host university
The courses are all offered in English. Despite the fact that the university is on a walking
distance from the Mexican border, the use of English is standard. I took four courses as it was
the minimum amount of courses to take and the maximum amount of courses I could take.
The most difficult part for me as a Law Student was finding law related courses. Law isn’t
normally taught on universities that ISEP offers, so I had to find law related courses in other
majors. It takes a lot of time going through all these courses to find law related courses but
after that I found enough of these courses present.
The courses I took were: American Government and Politics (Political Science major), Legal
Environment of Business (Management major), Law and Economics (Economics major) and
Police Systems and Practices (Criminal Justice major). These were mainly theoretical
courses and consisted of two one-and-a-half hour lectures every week. There wasn’t too
much student participation involved in these classes. The courses were very different from
each other and I had a good time following them. To study the law of another country was
sometimes challenging but also very interesting.
The exams of these courses consisted mainly of 2/3 multiple choice exams and many
assignments during the semester. Most assignments aren’t that difficult but they do however
cost some time to produce. The multiple choice exams are less difficult than the exams in
Tilburg because it are multiple choice exams. This is compensated by the fact that you pass a
course when you score at least 70% (instead of 55% at Tilburg University) which is a grade C.
In the American education system a C (70-79%) is considered a low grade. Getting a high
grade like a B (80-89%) or an A (90-100%) does require a small margin of error on your
exam. In my opinion if you keep up with the workload (which is far more than I encountered at
Tilburg University) it’s very possible to obtain a high grade. The level of English taught in The
Netherlands is sufficient for following the courses and pass the exams. Besides that, when
you speak English all day, your English skills will improve from the moment you arrive.
Description of Courses
Course:
BA/
MA
Form exam:
Approved as:
Grade:
ECTS:
BLAW3301 Legal Environment of Business
BA
- 4 MC exams
Replacing UVT course
A
6
CRIJ2328 Police Systems and Practices
BA
Replacing UVT course
(MTO/Bachelorthesis)
A
6
ECON4335 Law and Economics
BA
Replacing UVT course
A
6
POLS 2311 American Government and Politics
BA
Replacing UVT course
A
6
- 2 MC exams
- Assignments
- 1 Paper
- 3 exams open
questions
- 3 Assignments
- 4 MC Exams
Tips for the future students:
I would definitely recommend an exchange period. For me it was the greatest half year of my
life so far. Whatever is costs, whatever problems you may encounter, you should go on the
exchange, it is worth it. El Paso is not an obvious exchange location for Dutch students but for
me it was amazing. You also benefit from the fact that they are not used to people from the
Netherlands and that makes you special. They are eager to hang out with you because of
that. So you should go somewhere where they are not used to the Dutch.
Contact details:
If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me through my e-mail:
ecmbraun@gmail.com.