Experience report
Name: Simone van Eijck
E-mail:s.j.vaneijck@tilburguniversity.edu
Exchange semester: Spring
Academic year: 3rd
Host University: University of Cape Town
Country: South Africa
Admission, arrival, housing
UCT offers a service to pick you up from the airport if you arrive on two certain dates. I had to fill in a
form on their website with my flight details and then they would pick me up at the airport. Since almost
everyone is arriving those two dates several other international students were on the same flight as I
was. After picking up they brought me and the other students to a residence on campus in which we
stayed for 2 night before leaving to our house. In these two days you get the chance to meet a lot of
people, explore the neighborhood and campus, going out etc. After those two days they brought you
to the house were you would stay for the rest of the semester. Before leaving, UCT gives you the
opportunity that they will arrange housing for you. You can, again, fill in a form on the internet with
also your preferences for housing. The university provides housing in the four neighborhoods around
the university: Rondebosch, Rosebank, Mowbray and Observatory. Everyone lived in really nice
actual houses, so no apartments or flats etc. I had to share a room with a roommate, but many people
also got their own room (I really liked sharing though) with nice living rooms, bathrooms and of course
a braai in de backyard. If you apply for housing by UCT, you are living with other international
students, so no locals. I lived in Observatory with four Americans and another Dutch girl. Observatory
is a really nice neighborhood with many nice and cheap restaurants, it's kind of a 'hippie'neighborhood. Also Rondebosch is a nice neighborhood, since it also has nice restaurants and is
closer to university. Observatory was about 10 minutes from downtown Cape Town.
You can also arrange housing by yourself and then live in the city centre. I honestly liked it this way,
since many local and international students are living in those four suburbs. So when there was a
braai or if we went out on Wednesday/Thursday the place to be was very close to our house
compared to the city centre.
After we moved into our houses, the introduction week really started. On the first day we did the
Peninsula tour, which was really nice! You got on a bus and see a lot of highlights of Cape Town and
you also go to Cape Point and Cape of the Good Hope. Besides that, you make a stop at a township
where they explain about living there. The other introduction activities were more formal and
educational. Of course, the main thing about the introduction week is going out :)
TOPIC: Location of university/city
Without exaggerating, I think I can say that UCT is one of the most beautiful universities in the world.
UCT is located at the slopes of Table Mountain and Devils Peak, so you can imagine what kind of
view that gives. Since UCT is located at slopes of mountains, the university is divided in three
campuses: lower, middle and upper campus. Law courses are mostly given in the Kramer Law
Building, which is on middle campus. The university also provides a free shuttle bus to university.
From all of the four neighborhoods Jammie shuttles are driving to university. Also there is a shuttle
service to Hiddingh Campus, which is the campus downtown.
Furthermore, the university provides for a lot of clubs, for example fitness, hockey, field soccer,
cricket, mountain and ski club and many many more. In the introduction week there is a market with
stands of all the clubs. You can then wander around and sign up for the clubs you want to participate.
Cape Town is a town with lots of variety in everything. It depends on your mood where to go to. A nice
place to hang out or have dinner is the Waterfront. This is a quite rich place but the vibe is good there.
Also, in summer time it is really nice to go to the beaches. Cape Town has many beautiful beaches to
hang out or surf like Camps Bay, Clifton, Llandadno. More interesting things are Mzoli's restaurant,
downtown of course, definitely visit the summer concerts in Kirstenbosch Gardens and the Old Biscuit
Mill on Saturday (the best food!!). But also, do a weekend trip to Stellenbosch for some really good
wine tasting. For going out we went to Stones on Wednesday, Claremont (Boogie!) on Thursday and
Long Street in the weekends.
The four neighborhoods around Cape Town are also very lively. Besides international students, many
local students are living there. Every weekend some house hosts a braai (African barbecue) and
some party afterwards. Unlike what I heard from some exchange experiences in other cities, the local
people and international people are mixed groups of friends. The South African students are very
open-minded and hospitable, so I had a group of friends with both international and local students. I
really liked to also have local friends, since they are not that 'touristy' as you and your other
international students are.
Although Cape Town is a quite western city, the differences with Tilburg are huge. In the first place it
is way bigger than Tilburg. But the biggest difference for me was the differences between rich and
poor and so the aftermath of the apartheid era. Rich and poor are really living next to each other and
you will see homeless people every day, no matter where you are in Cape Town. Also, I was aware of
the racial differences every day, especially since there were many protests about it on campus. That
is not always happening, but in the time I studied at UCT a movement about racial differences just
started. Also be aware of the safety, Cape Town is not as safe as Tilburg. I've heard quite some
people who where mugged or robbed. But in my opinion, as long as your cautious, the chance to
something like that will be very small. Just simply never walk alone in the streets at night and don't
bring valuables with you at night. You get used to the unsafety quite soon and you just adapt to the
situation.
Academics
I took three courses at UCT: Principles of Intellectual Property Law (master course), International
Criminal Law and Africa and Law, Development Labour and Social Policy (bachelor thesis). I would
recommend the last two courses. Not that IPL was a bad course, but the subjects were simply not my
cup of tea. I found the other two courses really interesting! Both courses involved the situation in
South Africa a lot. For the course ICL and Africa they deepen the core crimes crime against humanity,
genocide and war crimes and apply it to situations in Africa. For example, for my assignment I had to
read a report about rapes in Zimbabwe by perpetrators of Mugabe's party and then give my opinion if
this were crimes against humanity and if SA had the opportunity to prosecute these perpetrators. I
found this really interesting! For my other course I had to write a research paper which substitutes my
bachelor thesis. I was free to pick my subject as long as it has something to do with either law or
development or labour or social policy. Also, your subject must be about South Africa. That was
sometimes quite hard for me, since I don't have the general knowledge about South Africa as I have
about the Netherlands (politics etc). However, my teacher was more than willing to help me and I
really liked to learn more about the policies in South Africa in, for example, development.
The education in general is quite different than at Tilburg University. Firstly, the classes are way
smaller than in Tilburg. My biggest class consisted of about 30 people which results in only having
one lecture per course a week instead of having both lectures and tutorials. Secondly, teachers really
like to give assignments and presentations so the pressure on your final exam is less. I actually liked
it this way, because you easier keep up with the literature and that makes studying at for the finals
less work. Finally, active participation is the key word in most lectures. They like discussions,
questions etc.
The level of courses is comparable to Tilburg University, so don't underestimate it. UCT is a very good
university in Africa and also around the world, so you will notice that with the lectures. But if you do
study for your finals and make all your assignments, you will definitely pass your courses. I haven't
heard anyone who failed their courses. The English was sometimes quite hard for me. This was firstly
because I was the only non-native English speaker in the courses and secondly, the words used in
law (bills, acts etc) are already quite difficult in Dutch, let alone if they use the same difficult words in
English.
I definitely liked the courses at UCT. They offer many courses which you can't do at Tilburg University
and you can learn a lot about the history of South Africa with, for example, apartheid in those courses
which made it really interesting to me!
Social life
In the introduction week I got the possibility to subscribe for (sports)clubs at UCT. I only subscribed
for the gym, since I had to pay for all of the other clubs. I lived in a house with only internationals
which was a lot of fun! We discovered the city together and tried to see everything. Almost every
weekend a house with other international students organized a braai or party. This was really nice
and afterwards we always went out with a big group. I also had local friends who I met almost every
week to do nice things as braaiing, going to concerts, go to winefestivals or just hang out at home.
The local people are very friendly and I definitely liked hanging around with them and explore more of
the South African culture.
At the end of March we had a mid-semester break of 10 days. Since I only had class on Wednesday
and Thursday, I took one week extra off so I could travel. In my mid-semester break I went to Kruger
NP (close to Jo'burg) and Mozambique. During my semester I was able to do the Garden Route with
my parents as well. This is a roadtrip from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth driving by the coast. After the
final exams I travelled to Namibia, Zambia and Botswana. I would definitely recommend travelling!
Although Cape Town is part of Africa, the other countries in Africa are way different than Cape Town
is. Cape Town is one of the most developed cities of Africa and during travelling I got to see the 'real'
Africa.
Living costs
The living expenses are quite similar to Tilburg. I paid about €320 euro a month for housing. Internet
in my house was quite expensive, but electricity on the other hand was really cheap. It is cheap to go
out for dinner, it is about €6,- to €8,-. Groceries are relatively more expensive than in the Netherlands,
so it was really tempting to go out for dinner. The drinks you pay with going out are also cheaper than
in the Netherlands, especially when you go out in Claremont. I didn't buy any textbooks, because I
could borrow them in the library. Clothes and everything are about the same price as in the
Netherlands.
Travelling is not really expensive, but don't expect the cheap prices like Asia. I think my trips cost
about €2000-€3000 euro for all of the trips together.
I did everything I want in Cape Town, including more expensive things as skydiving, and I think about
600-800 euro will be enough for one month living, excluding travelling.
Culture
I didn't really experience a culture shock while on exchange since Cape Town is a developed city. Of
course, there were differences compared to the Dutch culture. For example, effiency doesn't mean
anything in South Africa. When I had to registrar at UCT, we had to wait in line for about 3-4 hours.
Your patience will be tested in South Africa, but in time you will become more relaxed about it.
Furthermore, despite the fact that Cape Town is quite developed, there is much poverty as well. You
will see the consequences of apartheid every day, since black people are in general still poorer than
the white people. I also figured that black and white people are still not mixed and thus live separate
from each other. Besides that, there are 11 official languages in South Africa, so you can see that this
gives also many different cultures in Cape Town. If you ask a South African where they are from, they
most of the time say that they are Zulu/Afrikaans/Xhosa/English, they hardly ever say that they are
South African. So, you can see that the different cultures are living quite separate from each other.
When you walk in the streets, you will hear different languages constantly. By the way, local people
really like to speak Afrikaans with you, since Afrikaans is really similar to Dutch.
What similar is to all of the South African people is that they are very friendly and helpful. They are
always willing to help you by showing the way around etc. Don't be surprised if they invite you to a
home dinner or whatsoever. I also figured that they somehow like Dutch people. When I told them I
was Dutch they were even more willing to help or make friendships, compared to, for example,
Americans.
The students at UCT are mostly rich students (since the tuition is high) and always speak English.
However, lots of them still have another first language as Afrikaans or Xhosa. You will notice on
campus as well the many different cultures and languages.
When I travelled to other countries, I noticed even more that Cape Town was a developed city. The
other countries, especially Mozambique, were much less developed.
TOPIC: Personal development
Going to Cape Town for an exchange semester was very good for my personal development. It made
me conscious about their history with apartheid every day and that welfare as in the Netherlands is
not natural. I also became more relaxed and patience about everything. Furthermore, I figured that
the Dutch are direct and in some eyes may be rude. I lived with Americans who are very polite and
they definitely noticed our directness.
I cannot tell what by best or worse experience was in Cape Town, all the things together made it
absolutely amazing and I cannot remember a thing at the moment that was the worst about Cape
Town. Maybe one thing for 'worst' can be the unsafety, but still, if you pay attention, the chance
getting robbed or something will be fairly low. The thing that I will remember for ever about my
exchange is the beauty of Africa and in particular Cape Town and the friendliness of the South African
people. They are always willing to help and like to know you better. Something we can learn from in
Holland.
TOPIC: Tips for future students
I would most definitely recommend an exchange period! You'll never going to have this chance
anymore ever in your life. I also would recommend going to Cape Town. Cape Town is an amazing
city that has almost everything: nature, beaches, best going out life, history, old city centre, mountains
with spectacular views and I can sum up many more things. You will never get bored in this city and in
five months it was still not possible for me to do everything I wanted. Also, UCT is a very nice
university which offers many nice courses and just walking around campus gives the wow-effect every
day.
Before you go the UCT, I would recommend to start with your visa in time. The South African consular
is very strict, so don't be surprised if you have to go to The Hague 2 or 3 times because they deny
your application for your visa every time. I was lucky that I only had to go to the consular once for
application, but around me applications were constantly denied. Application at UCT itself is wellarranged and they do everything right in time.
I would also recommend to save money for travelling. Travelling is the finishing touch of your
exchange and there is also so much beauty around Cape Town.