Experience report
ANR:
Name:
E-mail:
Exchange semester:
Academic year:
Host University:
Country:
240927
Marijn Feijen
m.e.f.feijen@tilburgunivesity.edu
Fall 2014
Third
University of South Carolina (USC)
United States of America
TOPIC: Admission, arrival, housing
All exchange students needed to arriive in Columbia by Friday, August 15, 2014 or Saturday, August
16, 2014. On one of these days, you had to go to the Study Abroad Office on the campus. Here, we
received additional information about our housing, the campus facilities, and we had to sign up for all
the digital facilities of USC (Blackboard, MySC, CarolinaCard etc.).
Afterwards, I was guided to my room by a volunteer. All exchange students are required to live oncampus. This means that USC will provide housing for you. Sadly, from my experience, they do not
care about any preferences you send them in advance about your room. My room was nice, but there
was absolutely nothing, basically only a bed and a desk are provided by the university, this means you
have to go to Walmart to buy a comforter and a pillow before your first night in your own room. I was
assigned to a room in Woodrow, one of the residence halls on The Horseshoe. The Horseshoe is the
central part of the campus, so if you are able to choose your residence hall, choose one of the
Horseshoe residence halls. I was lucky enough to get a private bedroom. I had to share the kitchen,
bathroom and livingroom with my two American roommates.
In the afternoon, International Student Services (ISS) at USC provided guided tours across campus.
This was not only convenient to learn where everything is located on campus, it is also a chance to
meet a lot of other exchange students. Later during the week there were some more information
sessions in which they gave you important information about USC, and about what to do in case of
calamities/emergencies (For example, when you lock yourself out of your apartment.).
TOPIC: Location of university/city
To be honest, the city of Columbia is not that interesting. Besides the State House, Finlay Park, and
the Congaree Riverwalk, there is nothing to see. Columbia has about 130,000 inhabitants, USC has
33,000 students. Therefore, you can confidentely say that Columbia is a ‘studentenstad’, a studentcity.
During breaks/holidays, you do not want to stay in Columbia. The city will be deserted because almost
all students will go home, or go on trips.
The best places to eat are: Five Guys, Pawley’s, and Beezers. For a good coffee you can go to the
coffeeshop in the bookstore (they serve Starbucks), Cool Beans, or Starbucks in Vista. The best bars
can be found in Five Points. Every day, there will be another bar which has some kind of ‘daily deal’.
The most crowded days to go out are Thursday, Friday and Saturday. However, on Saturday the bars
close at 2am due to religious reasons.
USC has two big fitness centers located on campus: Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center
(Strom), and Solomon Blatt Physical Education Center (Blatt). I have never been to Blatt because
Strom was the best gym I have ever been. Strom has an indoor and outdoor swimmingpool, multiple
squash and racketball courts, basketball and volleyball courts, an 18m high climbing wall, an indoor
running track, indoor soccer court and, of course, multiple cardio and strength stations. Strom is so
spacious, it never feels really crowded. Especially the outdoor pool is very nice since you can swim
outside in South Carolina until Fall Break (Mid-October).
The biggest difference with Tilburg is that all the exchange students are required to live on-campus.
This makes it really easy to get in touch with other people and do things together. Also, you will not
find any shops in downtown Columbia. If you want to go shopping, you have to go to the
shoppingmalls outside of the city by car.
TOPIC: Academics
I had to take five courses. All the courses I took were management courses. I thought those courses
would fit perfectly in my program since I am a ‘Bedrijfseconomie’ student. The courses I took were:
Principles of Management (MGMT 371), Management of Human Resources (MGMT 374), Leadership
in Organizations (MGMT 403), Corporate Social Responsibility and Stakeholders Management (MGMT
407), and Strategic Management (MGMT 478).
I would recommend two of these five courses: Leadership in Organizations and Strategic
Management. These two courses were the only one that were a bit challenging. Second, the professors
of these two courses, Professor Hanly and Professor Sebeczek were really good and even a lot of fun.
Principles of Management and Human Resource Management were simply too easy for me. They
covered a lot of information already discussed in courses at Tilburg University. Therefore, I advise you
to take other courses which are a bit more challenging in order to learn more from your courses at
USC. Corporate Social Responsibilty and Stakeholders Management was a course all about ethics.
Since I totally do not like courses about ethics, and the professor was really boring, I did not enjoy this
class and I advise you to not choose this course.
In general, the level of all courses is much lower than in Tilburg, this applies at least to all European
exchange students with business majors. As long as you stick to the schedual provided by the courses
and go to the classes. In most courses, participation is important (in some courses even up to 30% of
your final grade). Therefore, it is important to go to classes, get involved, and do your homework. This
allows you to raise your grade easily. At USC it is normal to have a lot of mid-terms. I did not have any
final exams at all, only mid-terms. This makes it very easy to get high grades since these mid-terms
only cover a few chapters. The level of English is not that high. Additionally, since your textbooks and
slides in Tilburg are mainly in English, the transition is not that hard.
TOPIC: Social life
USC organizes some activities for its students. You will be informed about these activities by mail:
‘UofSC’. Second, Internation Student Services organizes a lot of activities for international students.
They also inform you by mail: ‘International Student News’. I never participated in any of those
activities besides getting free meals at different locations.
The best activities organized by the university, are the sportsgames, especially College Football at the
Williams-Brice Stadium. The university atlethic teams are very important to the university and their
students, so the atmosphere in those stadiums is fantastic. You will have to go to a game of the college
football team at Williams-Brice to experience a football game with 84,000 others.
I did have some contact with local students, these were American students who were in my classes.
Besides them, I did not have any contact with American students. I mainly hang out with other
(European and Australian) exchange students. There is no way that you don’t get in touch with other
exchange students since the campus is not that big. You will bump into other exchange students every
time you walk across campus.
During my exchange I made several trips across the United States with other exchange students. I have
been to Myrtle Beach (weekend), Charleston (one day), Chicago (Fall Break), New Orleans
(Thanksgiving Break), and to Miami and the Bahamas at the end of the semester. You will have enough
free time to do all these things and I definitely recommend all of them!
TOPIC: Living costs
Living costs are comparable to those in Tilburg. Food is not more expensive, and drinks in Five Points
are much cheaper. However, I advise you to cook yourself. This saves you a lot of money because
having dinner at the dinner facilities on campus will always be around $10. If you cook yourself, you
can have breakfast, lunch and dinner for $10 a day. Also, you are more flexible without a meal-plan.
You can have dinner off-campus whenever you want.
The only two things that are much more expensive are housing and textbooks. I paid $3,800 for my
room for one semester. Converted, this was about €750 a month. In America it is not uncommon to
pay over $200 dollar for a textbook. Luckily, my total expenses for textbooks were only $180.
Besides housing, I spent most of my money on the trips I made during the breaks and after the
semester. Sportsgames are free for USC students, and eating and drinking is not expensive in
Columbia.
My guess for my average monthly expenses is +/- $2,000. Devided: $500 food and drinks, $900
housing, $200 insurancefee, $50 mobile telephone plan, and $350 trips/other expenses.
TOPIC: Culture
I did not experience a culture shock. The South Carolinian culture is quite comparable to the Dutch
culture. One big difference is the influence of religion. In South Carolina, Christianity still has a big
influence in the life of students and in life in general. Second, people in South Carolina are more
friendly than Dutch people. They are more open and less arrogant. I experienced that most Americans
are really eager to learn about other cultures and about Europe. Therefore, talking about your home
country allows you to easily make new friends.
Furthermore, I experienced that European cultures do not differ that much in most aspects. The norms
and values of Americans are basically the same as in the Dutch culture. I did not learn that much about
the Dutch culture, only that people think it is weird to have ‘Sinterklaas’ instead of Christmas.
TOPIC: Personal development
The most important thing I learned about my period abroad is that I am able to live independent in a
foreign country without anybody supporting me. Second, one of the main reasons for me to go to
America was to improve my English proficiency. I think I have accomplished this goal while being
abroad. You will be forced to speak and write English, it only becomes easier over time. If I had the
chance, I wouldn’t do anything different, I would go to South Carolina again, and do the same things
once more.
The best experience I have about my exchange period, and therefore the one I will never forget, are
the football games at Williams-Brice. The atmosphere, the game itself, it all contributes to an
unforgettable experience.
TOPIC: Tips for future students
I definitely recommend future students to go on exchange. It is an unique chance to see and
experience another culture and another country. You will make a lot of new friends from all over the
world. Also, it is good for your personal development, it makes you less dependent, and it shows you
that you are able to ‘survive’ in a foreign country and a different culture.
I would definitely recommend the University of South Carolina. The weather is very nice, the campus
and its facilities are really good, student life is perfect and the football games are the best.
USC and Tilburg university will provide you with all the documents you need to fill out before you go
on exchange. When you follow all their procedures, you are well prepared to go to South Carolina.
TOPIC: A picture is worth a thousand words
Williams-Brice Stadium at a South Carolina Football Game.
The Darla Moore Business School
My room at USC
The Horseshoe in August and in December