Nina Czychon from Germany was only too glad to drop out of her Law program to study Psychology at the UT.
Czychon had always wanted to study Psychology, but the qualifying exam that she had to take after high school held her back. `Only those students who pass with very high grades can pursue Psychology. Only about five percent of the students succeed in doing that. I passed the exam, but did not get the required grade. I would have had to wait to study what really interested me. Instead of waiting, I decided to take up law, thinking that I would develop an interest in it.' However, the world of prosecution and defense did not hold much charm for Czychon, who was slowly beginning to feel jaded. Besides, she learned about the Psychology program being offered at the UT and jumped at the opportunity.
The course of study Czychon follows is in Dutch, but she has not encountered any language problems, as she sees a lot of similarity between German and Dutch. `Also my boyfriend is Dutch and I had several Dutch friends before I came to live here, so I was already quite comfortable with the language,' she explains. The program is flexible with respect to the duration in which it can be completed. Every quarter has three or four subjects; an exam is held at the end of each quarter. Czychon finds most of the subjects quite stimulating, barring Mathematics and Statistics. `How boring,' she complains. Czychon hopes to complete her program this fall and begin her Bachelor's course of study. Czychon would like to study Child/Clinical Psychology, but the UT does not offer specialization in these subjects, so Czychon plans to take up Health Psychology instead.
Whenever Czychon misses home, she gets into her car and in an hour she is home, much to the envy of other foreign students. Czychon also works once a week at an insurance company in Enschede. `The work involves mostly filing papers; my earnings go toward my university fees. In Germany, I would not have had to pay anything at all. `
Czychon is looking forward to the summer break just around the corner so that she can `go somewhere nice with my boyfriend' as she puts it.
Hometown: Hamburg, Germany
Languages known: German, Dutch, English
Favorite food: Vegetarian Thai
Dream destination: Backpacking in Indonesia and Goa, India
Favorite book: Das Parfum German by Patrick Suskind
Best part of living in NL: The multi-cultural environment
Worst part of living in NL: The weather
