Maastricht Applicants 2012?

Original post by Alexgadgetman

Ahh Ok, the normal OV cards cost. To be honest I had trouble finding any good info about the student ones. Might have to wait until I arrive to find out (I move out on the 17th so have 2 weeks before uni actually starts).

Hopefully they will have free/cheap travel as it would be nice, especially as Eindhoven has an awesome rock hall :bhangra:

Hehe i know it's not really a reply but how did you get the shaking pirate?? O____0

Reply 802

jhenryg

2

Original post by Pineappledogs

Ahh thats good, is it five mins away by bus or walking?
But google earth isn't that reliable anyway for directions, when we were staying in Amsterdam it said we were half an hour from the train station it turned out to be 7/8 mins :smile:

Hehee, be careful i may just take you up on that offer, lol

5 mins by bike 10/15 by walking :smile:

I'm sure it won't be bad :P

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Reply 803

Original post by Pineappledogs

Hehe i know it's not really a reply but how did you get the shaking pirate?? O____0

Hehe, this is what happens when you press the more button for smilies.
:ssaw:

And chinese! Ahh, that language annoys me, I can say thank you and tell someone that I want my food takeaway but apart from that... (I should note that no chinese person would understand me mainly because they have 4 distinct tones).

I took a gap year and so have had a year to mull uni stuff over and ergo already have my certificates. I sent a scan of them to the uni with a cover letter from my school. I wouldn't let the school stamp the certificates as they are worth a couple of hundred quid. Worst comes to worst I can show the originals when I arrive.

Reply 804

Surge1991

2

Original post by lucas13

what are these other requirements?

For example a personal statement, answer some subjective questions about your personality and about what you would do as a physician in certian situations, ask friends tell you about your strengths and weaknesses about your character and write about it. These tend to be necessary requirments.
However they will also ask you if you have documents showing that you played sports, volunteered, played an instrument or did anything meaningful to show that you are a well rounded student and that you have interests in other activities. It also helps to show if you have ideal physician qualities such as if you show a document (certified by a headmaster) that you were the president of some society in your school and etc.

Really in the end, my application turned out to be like 40 pages long with all the essay questions I had to answer and submitting documents of proof that i did certain acitivities and so forth.

Reply 805

Hey everyone! I live in Maastricht and work on the UK Country team at the University. It's crunch time now so I will try and answer any questions as best I can!

:smile:

Reply 806

Mac.

I am SO excited now!!

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Reply 807

Original post by Alexgadgetman

Hehe, this is what happens when you press the more button for smilies.
:ssaw:

And chinese! Ahh, that language annoys me, I can say thank you and tell someone that I want my food takeaway but apart from that... (I should note that no chinese person would understand me mainly because they have 4 distinct tones).

I took a gap year and so have had a year to mull uni stuff over and ergo already have my certificates. I sent a scan of them to the uni with a cover letter from my school. I wouldn't let the school stamp the certificates as they are worth a couple of hundred quid. Worst comes to worst I can show the originals when I arrive.

Waoah

I dunno how i missed that button.

It is a really hard language, but i really want to visit China, maybe even live there (dunno yet)......well it's on my list :smile:

I honestly have no idea how to get the college to stamp my certificates, i don't think i'm allowed back in there anyway, but a cover letter is a really good idea. Plus i really didn't know getting them certified meant get a college stamp. Did you give them your GCSE certificates aswell, i gave them in the first part of the application and then almost all of the questions they asked in the interview were to do with GCSE's...i think they were impressed cuz here we do so many subjects.

Reply 808

Original post by jhenryg

5 mins by bike 10/15 by walking :smile:

I'm sure it won't be bad :P

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was it 19.50 Euros per day for the one you booked, i dunno how but they changed the price for me from 435 Euros a month to 585 Euros a month, and it looks like exactly the same studio..... :confused:

Reply 809

Original post by TheresaB45

Hey everyone! I live in Maastricht and work on the UK Country team at the University. It's crunch time now so I will try and answer any questions as best I can!

:smile:

Any advice for finding accommodation without having to pay agents fees, and not using maastrichthousing.com? :redface:

Reply 810

Original post by Pineappledogs

It is a really hard language, but i really want to visit China, maybe even live there (dunno yet)......well it's on my list :smile:

It is a really cool country (I spent a month travelling there in June). The food is awesome, everything is so cheap and the people are friendly (even if they do regularly photo rape you in the south).

Admittedly, the hard seat class on the trains is something that has to be experienced to be believed, and then avoided forever (unless its a festival, in which case you wont have a choice!)

The only real downsides are the spitting, smoking and smog (its like alliteration!). They do have a rather awesome technique of hocking up phlegm at will. I know it is very easy to get a job as an english teacher out there if you are a native speaker, so certainly if you chose to live out there it would not be too difficult.

Reply 811

Original post by Alexgadgetman

It is a really cool country (I spent a month travelling there in June). The food is awesome, everything is so cheap and the people are friendly (even if they do regularly photo rape you in the south).

Admittedly, the hard seat class on the trains is something that has to be experienced to be believed, and then avoided forever (unless its a festival, in which case you wont have a choice!)

The only real downsides are the spitting, smoking and smog (its like alliteration!). They do have a rather awesome technique of hocking up phlegm at will. I know it is very easy to get a job as an english teacher out there if you are a native speaker, so certainly if you chose to live out there it would not be too difficult.

Wow really? Ah you make me jealous, I'd love to travel a country. Did you travel by yourself or with people, hehe my uncle works there sometimes and he photo rapes the Chinese people, honestly he has hundreds of pics with random Chinese ppl, & they all look so surprised :tongue:

When you say 'hard seat class' do you mean not getting a seat or that the seats are hard, if it's not getting a seat is it like some of the trains in Japan, where your literally squashed up against ppl? :redface:

Hehe phlegm, did you wear one of those smog protection masks? I've always wanted to wear one.......

Reply 812

_milkteeth

Hiya,

I'm due to start my MA at Maastricht in September but am having a really hard time finding an affordable place to live...
Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks,

Emily

Reply 813

jhenryg

2

Original post by Pineappledogs

was it 19.50 Euros per day for the one you booked, i dunno how but they changed the price for me from 435 Euros a month to 585 Euros a month, and it looks like exactly the same studio..... :confused:

I'm not the single studio I'm the single room :smile:

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Reply 814

Original post by Pineappledogs

Did you travel by yourself or with people, hehe my uncle works there sometimes and he photo rapes the Chinese people, honestly he has hundreds of pics with random Chinese ppl, & they all look so surprised :tongue:

I was travelling alone, though I met random people along the way - as I ended up travelling from Hong Kong to Tallinn so went a fair distance. I think i should have tried to photo rape some chinese, would have been just revenge.

Original post by Pineappledogs

When you say 'hard seat class' do you mean not getting a seat or that the seats are hard, if it's not getting a seat is it like some of the trains in Japan, where your literally squashed up against ppl? :redface:

Hehe phlegm, did you wear one of those smog protection masks? I've always wanted to wear one.......

Chinese trains have loads (5) of different classes, soft sleep, hard sleep, soft seat, hard seat, hard seat unallocated. Fortunately I never got the lowest class but at two points I had to spend 15 hours on hard seat - people smoking everywhere, the unallocated seats (which cost as much as the allocated ones) means people are sitting on the toilets, wash basins, floor, little seats etc. The aircon on one of these was simply a set of 8 ceiling fans like you would have in a office. Made for a very 'nice' 35 degree night... and yes, the seats were uncomfortably hard. But it only cost £7.20 for the night so I cant complain :smile:

The masks are usually only seen in the south - and are worn by ill people to stop spreading disease, in the north they just cough everywhere to infect you as fast as possible (it was really strange how different Hong Kong was to the mainland in respect to hygiene).

Reply 815

Original post by Pineappledogs

Any advice for finding accommodation without having to pay agents fees, and not using maastrichthousing.com? :redface:

Yeah! Try facebook groups such as Rooms/Kamer/Zimmer Maastricht, Info-UK Maastricht, Sharing is Caring, University of Maastricht. You can also try agencies who normally charge a huge fee of an extra months rent, they normally suggest that you view the room before signing the contract. If you can't find anywhere then go for the guesthouse. Unfortunately there are about 3000 other students looking for rooms and at this late stage if the room looks good on a picture, take it!!!

Reply 816

Original post by Alexgadgetman

You should be able to get one when you arrive.. seemingly they cost 7.50 and then a fixed charge + charge per KM. Looks like they work the same as Octopus and Oyster Cards.

Haven't got one yet so not definitely sure :redface:

You can get 40% discounted ones (for €60 a year) and as soon as you have a Dutch address you can get any kind of OV chipkaart at the main train station in Maastricht. You're better off hunting for a bike and paying about €70 upfront for that though. Plus you will feel super fit hehe :smile:

Reply 817

Original post by Pineappledogs

Really, you have to pay? I read something that said OV cards were given to students in the Netherlands and work on all forums of public transport...well except taxis and airplanes :smile:

This is when you work for a set amount of hours per month and receive a grant from the Dutch government. At the moment you have to work a minimum of 32 hours per month but they are thinking of raising this to 54 hours :smile:

Reply 818

Original post by Pineappledogs

Wow you've already got your certificates?? I still don't know how i'm meant to get them properly certified, i know i'll need my college's stamp but not sure what else......*puff that will be more research :redface:

Hehe i emailed them to ask why i hadn't received confirmation that my fees had been paid and they emailed me back saying on your account your fees haven't been paid, in the end it turned out my dad didn't put my name or student number in the payment details area, i've sent them a copy of all of the forums and reference numbers and am hoping they can sort it out.

It sounds like you are going to become very fit and healthy living in Wardehofplein......and i'll just be drinking hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows on the bus :wink:

You just need the college stamp and a signature on it (so that you can't stamp it yourself). Just photocopy your A Level transcript (the sheet with all your grades you get on the day). Then you'll be fine :smile:

Reply 819