Innovision Fall 2019

SPRING 2019 | 27 about the culture shocks they experience and help each other work through some of the difficulties they encounter on a day-to-day basis. When she arrived on August 18th, Maud stepped off the bus and some ISOmembers welcomed the incoming abroad students warmly. She says, “They helped with our suitcases, explained everything and guided us to our rooms. At that moment, we all became so enthusiastic!” With the kind help of the ISO, Maud felt welcomed coming into Kutztown University and was excited to see where her time at KU would take her. Although life at Kutztown is fun, there are some major differences from life in the Netherlands to life in America. In the Netherlands, her school doesn’t have a campus and most people commute to school by public transportation or bike. Every day, Maud would travel 30 minutes to and from school. Another big difference at InHolland Haarlem, there are limited services to help students succeed. For example, Kutztown has a tutoring service, but in the Netherlands, students have to receive help elsewhere. Clubs are limited for students to join at InHolland Haarlem. “We only have a study club for our major and maybe four times a year we have activities or parties with them,” she says. Maud likes that there are so many ways for students to get involved such as organized trips to Philadelphia, New York or D.C., bingo and karaoke nights or just watching amovie in theMcFarlandStudentUnion. While at Kutztown, Maud wants to improve her English. Having already taken eight years of English classes, she believes speaking with native English speakers will help her learn the language more efficiently. Maud looks forward to the future. She plans to graduate and complete an internship in Amsterdam as a tour operator. In the long haul, she wants to work in tourism. She also wants to see more of the world and work in a different country. Maud Borst has always wanted to go to school in the U.S. As soon as she found out her university InHolland Haarlem in the Netherlands supported their students studying abroad, she began doing research on possible schools. Her school had three partner universities, one being KU. After some research, she thought Kutztown University would fit her academic needs best. In the Netherlands, Maud majored inTourismManagement due to her love of traveling and exploring new cultures. After finding out that her major requires marketing and management courses, she enrolled as a Business Administration minor at Kutztown University. Although Maud enjoys exploring different cultures, she experienced some minor challenges when moving to America. One of the biggest obstacles was eating healthy. Back home, Maud tries to eat as healthy as possible, but she says, “I’m very tempted to grab some fries or cookies whenever I eat.” Maud also struggles with meeting new people and making friends. However, Maud says living on campus has helped a lot with that. “My roommate is such a nice girl. We always leave our door open so people can come in for small talk. We meet a lot of people this way,” she says. Besides dorm-living, Maud likes all the on-campus activities students can get involved in. She plans on joining the dance team during basketball season, but for now, she’s involved with the International Student Organization (ISO).The ISOhelps international students talk MAUD BORST ‘19 Maud Borst is a sophomore abroad student from the Netherlands. During her one semester abroad program at KU, she is pursuing a Business Administration minor.