Period 5 at Maastricht University – summary

Period 5 is the last period for master students who started in September. Last courses, tutorials, exams, finishing master thesis. I also had my last courses but I also managed to work at the University and to enjoy travelling a bit.

Spring in Maastricht, source: my picture

Tradition continues and I look back again at period 5 of my Infonomics study programme that just ended. It was actually last period when I had regular courses, I am only left with the Master thesis and skill course connected to that. Pretty good feeling I must say. Only the Master thesis stands between me and masters degree. Well, but for now I will focus on the two courses and just passed and my life in the previous period. Both of my courses were compulsory for Infonomics master programme – Internet Economics and Intellectual capital and knowledge systems. Actually this period was pretty busy. Next to my own courses I was also tutoring at FASOS and working on an internship website for the Maastricht University. I managed to go for a weekend and Queensday to Amsterdam and also for 4 days to Paris. I hosted my brother and 3 friends in the first week of May Maybe my time management is getting better Let's start with my university duties.

Back to Maastricht for Thesis Defense

After a few months I am coming back to Maastricht to defend my master thesis and finish my Infonomics master studies.

Rotterdam, source: my picture

My defence is scheduled to take place on Thursday January 31, 2013. Wizzair no longer flies from Prague do Eindhoven, thus I had to book the flight with Transavia to Rotterdam and take train from Rotterdam to Maastricht. The whole journey is longer and more expensive, but at least there is some cheap flight from Prague to the Netherlands. I could fly with Wizzair from Brno, but I had an exam on Monday so I preferred the Tuesday's flight from Transavia.

It's around zero in Prague and it's raining. The board at the airport reports that in Rooterdam it's warmer. Flight is on time and the plane is not full at all. Soon after the take off I and falling asleep and when I wake up, I can see the sun and dense white clouds under us. How beautiful compared to the grey and depressing weather on the ground.

Chinese dinner and dumplings

Sijing is our fellow Infonomics student and we always wanted to try some typical Chinese food, but home prepared not noodles with chicken from some fast food. The year is over and Sijing prepared dinner for us. Let's eat!

Sijing, the chef cook, source: my picture

After some discussions about possible date, we set up the final date for Friday. But then on Wednesday I was at a chocolate experiment and I got some missed calls from Erwin. I called him back and he so like that the weather forecast is bad for Friday and that we will have the Chinese dinner that day. I went directly to his place and we waited for Georgi. Georgi does not ride a bike so he took bus, but me, Alex and Erwin rode to Sijing's place. I wasn't there before but it was on the other side of Maastricht. I was curious where she lives and what she will prepare for us. Well, it was a great day anyway, I was in a great mood, because I found the supervisor for my master thesis and also earned some money during two experiments and Chinese dinner made my day just awesome. Some days are just really great, aren't they?

Period 4 at Maastricht University – summary

In February I started my second semester at Maastricht University. The difference to the previous time spent there was, that I was no longer an Erasmus exchange student, but I got accepted as regular master student into studyprogramme called Infonomics.

Garden next to the SBE, source: my picture

The fact, that I changed my student status didn't change much in the reality. As I described before nobody at SBE makes difference between exchange and regular master students. You have the same workload and duties. Therefore it was just another period, new courses and new people. I decided to go for Infonomics master programme. Even thought there were only 4 students who started this programme in September, I didn't have any course with them this time. But I met my new fellow Infonomics masters – we were 4 again. We had ICT, Innovation and Economic performance course together as this one is a compulsory for our programme. For the elective course I was the only Infonomics student who decided to enrol in Information Economics the rest 7 students went for IT project management. I am glad that I decided that way, finally I got was I was missing – a bit of math again. Well, I was really excited about the new period. Even if the student status change is basically only some paperwork it meant a lot to me. Especially because about a year ago, it didn't come to my mind that I would ever become a regular master student abroad. Isn't it awesome?

Period 2 at Maastricht University – summary

As I always did on my blog when I wrote about my bachelor studies, I am now going to summarize the exams and my courses I took in period 2 during my studies at SBE at Maastricht University. But not only the courses are described in the article, we cannot forgot the overall experience.

Exams at MECC, source: my picture

After I got acquainted with the rules at Maastricht University during the Period 1 I was no longer worried about the local school system. As an Exchange student I enrolled myself for courses not from one master track and therefore in second period at SBE I also met completely new people in my tutorial groups (there were a few Infonomics exceptions obviously). I first thought about writing separate articles about each course but than I realized that it's not necessary and also it's more interesting to have a shorter summary. Also the exams were very similar this time – both written at MECC, which is also a quite interesting story for someone, who is not familiar with practices at Maastricht University. Well, as I recently got to know, there are different practices at different faculties and even study programmes, but let's generalize it for the case of written exams As I may have (or also not) mentioned, I attended Intellectual propety law and Information Society (EBC4027) and International competitiveness and Antitrust policy (EBC4026) courses.

Master’s Introduction Day at SBE

Today is the last day of August and my first official day at School of Business and Economics at Maastricht University. Let's talk about how was my first impression of the Faculty, PBL system and the people I met today.

Slide from welcoming presentation, source: my picture

First I have to mention that I am an exchange student, but quite an active one. I took part at , which is more for regular students and also today – it's introduction prepared for regular master students, as will be tomorrow But I've already signed in and it's better to have more information and see the school from different points of view, don't you think?

The whole day was great, ideal introduction to the university and also to the city. Great thing is, that you are the whole day in a small group where are also your future fellow students – ideal for getting know each other a bit. You get the information about the most important things and also how to get along. If you still have any problems with the student card, missing documents or are you just not sure about something and do not know where to ask, than Introduction day will help you! Well, I had a great tutor so I can only give a very positive feedback and I hope that also other students had the same experience.

Period 1 at Maastricht University – summary

Going to school and passing exams is what full time student does. Period 1 including the exams is over and therefore it's ideal time for evaluation. How were my courses and how did I enjoy the first part of the autumn semester?

Lecture room at Maastricht University, source: my picture

For three years I started my winter semester at the beginning of October. It's normal in the Czech republic, but the system is different in Netherlands. After Master's Introduction day we had weekend to get prepared for the lectures and tutorials starting the week after that. The first period at SBE took place from 5th September till 21st October followed by the exam week from 24th till 28th October. Obviously everything happens pretty fast so you are expected to be prepared even for the first class. It's your responsibility to check the EleEUM, where the tutors post material and information about the course. Maastricht University has problem based learning (PBL) approach and therefore students are required to read a lot and be really prepared for each class. No excuses like "I'm Erasmus" works here. Team assignments are common practice and therefore for most of the students, one of the university library becomes a second home. Get ready for that.

Short summary of my winter holidays

Christmas break is over and it's time to get back to Maastricht to continue with studying at SBE. Today I will talk about the time I spent in the Czech republic and than about my superb weekend in Maastricht before period 3 started.

My favourite Maastricht University hoodie, source: my picture

I was home for three weeks and now it's time to return to Maastricht University. I really appreciate the fact, that all exams are written before the Christmas break. I could enjoy my holiday and relax. On the other hand, waiting for the results has an opposite effect – getting more and more nervous whether I passed and how. As I didn't fail any exam in the first period, I had now 3 weeks of free time. As I only visited my country – Czech Republic – for a few days at the end of October, I was looking forward to seeing my friends and family again. Christmas is an ideal time for stuff like that and after spending the New Year's Eve with my university buddies, time was going faster than I realized. I enjoyed great Czech beer, which is one of the things that I really miss in Maastricht. I spent during last two weeks quite a lot of time in pubs despite the fact that I am definitely not a big drinker.