I am Bao Lam, also known as Liam. I am a 1st-year student at Hotel Management School Maastricht from Vietnam and have been living here for 4 months. Studying abroad is a challenging journey for me, but I’m here because the practicals and the knowledge the school provides will help me catch my dream of becoming a future hotelier.
As an international student, I was concerned about the living conditions and other issues such as making friends and adapting to the environment. Furthermore, this is my first time living on my own without my family, so i figured it couldn’t be easy, but living in the Student Residence at HMSM has changed my mind. It is about helping, caring, and sharing.
Now, I am living with 15 other students and they are all my friends. Sometimes, we cook and sit together to share our stories, and also celebrate our birthdays. It’s lots of fun and you will never be alone here. In addition, we share a lot about our cultures and learn more about the world. That is because I am not only living with Dutch students but also students from Germany, Finland and Hungary. When I struggle with the lesson in class, I can always ask the February intake at my house for help: because they have studied the subject before, they can help me understanding it better. I think it is a good thing that the first intakes are always housed with the later intakes.
When moving into a new house we always think about buying new furniture, but here, Holland2Stay provides you with enough furniture right away, and you are allowed to customize your own room if you want. One more thing that makes me like to live here is that Holland2Stay always checks the public areas of your unit to make sure it is clean, and it helps raise everyone’s sense of hygiene as well.
Everything new takes a while to get used to but living here for 4 months has changed me a lot: becoming more proactive, more responsible, and more mature day by day. Now I know that my choice was correct and living on my own on campus is not lonely or hard as I imagined, it is great and full of experiences. If we never try, how will we know?
Curious about living on campus? Bao Lam tells you all about it and shares his experience!
Upon graduating, Emiel Ritzen [F 2021] reminisces about his time on campus and why it was such an essential part of his study!
Jean Maroun Bou Malhab about the Student Residence - "I must say that I whole heartedly enjoy my time here."