Experience report
Name: Marlot van Dokkum
E-mail: m.l.vandokkum@tilburguniversity.edu / marlot_v_dokkum@hotmail.com
Exchange semester: Fall + Spring
Academic year: 2014-2015
Host University: University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC); College of Law
Country: USA
TOPIC: Admission, arrival, housing
Before departure a lot of administration for admission and beyond needs to be done. Gladly, the study
abroad advisor from TiU and an advisor from UIUC college of law provide checklists for everything
that needs to be done and they are very helpful when you have any questions. The main point though
is; you need to arrange everything yourself. Don’t wait until people tell you what to do (because they
won’t). Make sure you are well informed about VISA, vaccinations, insurances etc. The UIUC website
and the pre-departure guide provide a lot of information already, but since they’re focused on
international students from all over the world/students studying abroad all over the world make sure
you are well informed with the requirements for the USA. Besides that, some arrangements can take
up some more time, like a VISA appointment. Don’t wait until the last moment to figure those things
out.
I took a flight to Chicago O’hare, which is approximately 3 hours away from Urbana-Champaign
where the university is located, and I changed flights in Dublin. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone.
The US customs line in Dublin was insanely long. Even though I had a couple of hours to change
flights, by the time my flight was about to leave I was still waiting in line. Luckily enough so many
people who had to be on that flight were still in line, so the plane waited and we departed with a
couple hours of delay. This was kind of stressful, so I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone. UrbanaChampaign also has its own airport. A really small one though and to get there you’ll mostly always
have to change flights at Chicago. Since this is more expensive most of the times and since a
roundtrip by bus from Chicago to UIUC is about 30 dollars, most people choose to fly on Chicago.
When I arrived in Chicago there were people from ISSS (international student and scholar services)
waiting for international students to arrive. That fall semester they started with an ISSS shuttle service
to take you to the university. You can register for that on their website. Besides the ISSS shuttle, there
are many other shuttle services available, as well as the Amtrak train to UIUC. A list of transportation
options is available on the website of ISSS. Since the shuttle from ISSS was new, not everything went
smoothly. My luggage got lost (student took out the wrong luggage) and the driver didn’t exactly know
where to go in college town… Here again; always make sure you are well prepared yourself ;-) Write
down/print out your address and a map or something (since your phone won’t be working in the
beginning and there is no possibility to buy a new sim card at Chicago O’hare) and some phone
numbers so you know where to go and who to contact in case its necessary. Don’t worry though,
everyone is extremely helpful and kind. So if you need help, just ask someone, they are more than
happy to help.
Housing was quite a search I remembered. The university provides you with a list of university
housing options. This list includes a lot of dorm options and also some apartments. I didn’t want to live
in a dorm with a meal plan (although a meal plan isn’t mandatory for graduate students, but then still
you’ll only have a microwave and fridge in your dorm), so I choose to live in an apartment. I found a
roommate through a bulletin board on the website of the university. If I had to choose again, I would
have searched for other non university housing. There are a lot of facebook groups where people post
roommate requests, leases etc. Then you have the option to not live in a dorm, and still live at a great
location (most university apartment are a bit further away from campus).
TOPIC: Location of university/city
The university is located in Urbana-Champaign, two small towns connected by the university. This
college town is totally focused on students. When you arrive before the semester begins, the place
will be quite quiet. Just as during the breaks. But once the semester starts it’s a very living college
town. In the middle of campus town there is one big street, Green street, with a lot of dining options
and bars. Also downtown champaign provides really good restaurants and bars. The college town has
two enormous gyms with everything you need. Students can go there for free with their I-card (student
card, you can also use this card to ride the bus for free). They provide group sports lessons too, you’ll
need to buy an extra gym card for this. Urbana-Champaign is surrounded by corn fields, they have
several corn festivals in the fall semester, I would also recommend to go to a barn dance. Besides
that there aren’t really cultural things to do in Urbana-Champaign, therefore you’ll have to go to
Chicago and the other bigger surrounding cities. The main difference with Tilburg is that UrbanaChampaign is really a college town, where Tilburg also is a regular city next to the fact that TiU is
located there.
TOPIC: Academics
You’ll have to take courses for at least 12 credit hours per semester to maintain your VISA status. The
first semester I took the courses: information privacy law, international business transactions, aircraft
finance and business associations. The second semester I took: bankruptcy, bankruptcy procedure
and mergers and acquisitions. My master thesis at TiU was at the field of bankruptcy and besides that
I am mainly interested in bankruptcy. This is why I took both bankruptcy courses (they didn’t offer
those the first semester). I also took some courses for fun. Information privacy law was a really
interesting course, it included talking about the NSA and tensions with the constitution. Also aircraft
finance was a really random choice. I took this course since they would never offer something like that
at TiU. I think the level of the courses is pretty similar to the level in the Netherlands. The workload
really depends on the courses you choose. Some of them are really demanding and/or require a lot of
papers. Others are only lectures. In the beginning it can be quite challenging to have all courses in
English if you were not used to that in the Netherlands, but you’ll get used to that really quick.
The campus is enormous. Law school is located a little bit on the outside of campus and is really
small. At the end of the semester you will know most of the people who walk around there. This is a
huge difference with the Law school in Tilburg.
TOPIC: Social life
The university organizes a lot of activities during the first weeks. Participate as much as you can, it is
very helpful to get to know campus and a lot of people. But even if you don’t try, you will meet people
really fast. They’re really friendly and open. Before arrival we created a facebook group with all
international students who were coming on exchange to the UIUC Law school. Because of that we
immediately had a big group to hang out with, but you’ll meet so many other students too. Law school
has a lot of organizations you can participate in and they also regularly organize law school parties.
So even besides classes, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to meet them.
If you want to travel you’ll have to plan this, you don’t have a lot of breaks and the breaks are close to
finals. The only breaks are thanksgiving break during the fall semester and spring break during spring
semester. A really good opportunity to visit other places. We did some road trips, which was
awesome and I would definitely recommend doing that.
TOPIC: Living costs
Since the grant from TiU will only cover a one way flight during summer period, the rest of the
expenses you’ll have to finance yourself. So make a good financial plan before departure. Living
expenses abroad will be around 1000 dollars a month. From what I remember checking out the dorms
and meal plans, this is already around 1000 dollars a month. If you’ll choose to live in an apartment
(university or non university) rent rates will vary between 400-600 dollars approximately. Then you’ll
have to pay for groceries, other living expenses, medical insurances, phone plans etc. At the
beginning of the semester you’ll also have to pay some fees to the UIUC (even though you’ll pay
tuition only to your home universities), if I remember correctly this was also a couple hundreds of
dollars. Also law school books are really expensive (around 130 dollar each), try to rent them via
amazon.com or at the bookstore. If they aren’t available for rent, try to buy them secondhand. If you
want to travel, then also calculate this into your financial plan.
TOPIC: Culture
Honestly I didn’t experience culture shock. Of course USA is a really western country, so it’s not really
likely that you’ll get a huge culture shock. From my experience people there are way more friendly
than over here (except for the east coast generally), so they’ll make you feel welcome. UIUC though
is a university with A LOT of international students. Overall I think I have had more contact with
international students than with local students, because there are so many of them. This is really fun
though, you’ll literally meet people from all over the world and from so many different cultures. I did
notice that we, as dutch persons, are really honest and direct persons when communicating, it’s good
to be aware of that.
TOPIC: Personal development
People in Law school were way more serious about studying and worked so much harder than
students at TiU (this is also because they finished their undergrad before they were admitted to law
school, so they’re a bit older overall and maybe because the tuition is kind of expensive..). This was
really inspiring and motivated me even more.
The only thing I would change if I could do it all over again, was to find an accommodation a little bit
closer to law school (check google maps for law school and your accommodation address. I did that
and I thought it was close… but still kind of far.. so be aware of that). Besides that, I wouldn’t change
a thing. I have met so many great people, Americans but also people from all over the world and they
definitely thought me to be more open (even though I think we are already pretty open minded in the
Netherlands) about other cultures and that some things that are really normal to us, can be really
unusual for them. The most important lesson I learned is that life takes you wherever you choose to
go. Going on exchange was an impulsive decision for me, but I definitely have memories for a
lifetime.
TOPIC: Tips for future students
If you are still in doubt about going on exchange: don’t be!! As a student you have the freedom to
travel and see parts of the world, so use that opportunity. I went on exchange for two semesters and I
would most certainly recommend it if you have the chance to go longer than one semester. They say
time flies when you are having fun and this is even more true on exchange, when everything and
everyone is new.
A few last tips: the weather in Illinois is crazy. One day it can be 25 degrees and the next day 12
degrees. Also the winters can be really cold (-30 degrees last winter). This makes packing difficult...
There is a big mall though where you can go by bus and buy things you need. Also an exchange to
the USA requires a lot preparation and includes a lot of formalities (one example: a phone is really not
allowed in the embassy where you’ll have to apply for a visa. I dropped my stuff in a locker of the
Rijksmuseum). Summary: Start preparing the sooner the better!