Hui Shan Zhou

Looking back on my final year of high school and reflecting on the tremendous amount of decisions that had to be made, I am extremely happy with where I ended up. I definitely dealt with a lot of struggles when choosing the path of my near future, especially as I studied natural sciences in high school. However, I’ve always had an interest in the arts and would love to learn about fashion at any time possible. As my graduation came closer and closer, and pressures were growing more and more, I concluded that the natural sciences are not an interest of mine strong enough to dedicate my future career to. As I was informing myself about different study programmes and browsing through the Internet for hours, I stumbled upon the IBACS programme. It instantly drew my attention with the wide coverage of courses, as my plan was not to become a specialized or professional artist. My preferences definitely lie in the background of the arts & culture sector and its functioning.

Overall self-development and discovering other interests in the arts

As the city of Rotterdam is known for being very international, it only added another favor to come to Erasmus University. The international atmosphere facilitates the adaptation process by a great amount and proves to be helpful when getting used to the city. Due to the fact that most people are coming from all around the world, there is no place for judgement and everyone is here with the right intentions.

Since one year has already passed, I must admit that it wasn’t easy in the beginning, strongly due to struggles of adjusting. Luckily, I found great friends who only enrich my journey here in Rotterdam. If I had to conclude one thing from the past year is that it’s been extremely beneficial to my overall self-development and helped me to discover other interests in the arts even more.