Hi Tim. Nice to meet you. Can you briefly tell us who you are and how you ended up in Urban Studies?

Well, my name is Tim, I have previously lived in Germany and have always wanted to study in a different country, and the Netherlands seemed like a doable destination to me. It’s close by, there’s not too much of a “cultural shock,” but it would still be a different experience; and it’s also known to be very international.

Some people already have a career path in mind, but I never knew what I wanted to do specifically, so I chose Urban Studies for a big part because of its broadness. There’s just so many options to choose from and many directions to go afterwards. So, I think it’s a good fit.

You mentioned that the program covers a very wide range of subjects – which discipline interests you most?

I’ve always been interested in Psychology, even considered studying that, so I do enjoy Determinants of Human Behavior. But I enjoy everything – it’s all very interesting. I was not aware of how interested I was in cities but considering that I am interested in problem-solving it’s good to cover all the basics. It’s hard to choose one favourite.

Besides just studying, you actively participate in the internal and external affairs of the program. Can you tell us what you do and how you stay motivated to do it?

I am part of the ‘Opleidings Committee’ – basically, what we do is we look at the teaching, at the program and its contents, and evaluate what’s happening from the perspective of the students. If there are complaints, they would come to us, we would talk about that with the committee and then, maybe, we’d see there is a problem with a certain course or a certain instructor; we might find that one of the courses does not really fit the curriculum and advise to change it… Something like that. So, to be more precise, we try to guard the quality of the program and to improve it – see what might be wrong, what might be the weaknesses and just try to make it better, as well as solve issues between students and staff

You certainly know how to keep yourself busy. Do you already have any plans for the future?

Yes and no – oh, that’s such a typical answer. I am obviously planning to finish this program. Currently I am also considering doing a masters, maybe at this university, possibly in psychology. In general, I don’t know what I want to become, as I said, so I’m looking forward to the second year when we learn in more detail about some of the disciplines. I’m sure that will be helpful. After that I’ll see what happens.

Finally, there is one important question left to ask – What is your favourite city and why?

As I said I was never really interested in cities – or wasn’t aware of it. So, it’s really hard to answer this question. I’m also really not good with picking favourites. I am new to the Hague. You hear of The Hague in the news, you know what’s happening here, you know the relevance it has for Europe. But you could have shown me a picture of The Hague and I would not have known that it was this city. As a relative newcomer, I really like the city, I like its international vibe, and … cool beans, yes, cool beans with a z.