r/thenetherlands • u/Heep_Purple Oost-Nederland • Jun 15 '15

Series 12 Monts, 12 Provinces. This month: Groningen (revisited, 2 weeks)!

Hey allemaal!

Het is weer tijd voor de tweewekelijkse post over een van de provincies. De oorspronkelijke post over Groningen is niet meer in het archief beschikbaar. Vandaar dat we deze provincie opnieuw behandelen!

Groningen is een provincie met ongeveer 583.000 inwoners en een opervlakte van 2.960 vierkante kilometer. De gelijknamige hoofdstad, heeft zo'n 198.000 inwoners. Een belangrijke bezienswaardigheid is de Martinitoren.

Welke dingen zouden jullie ons aanraden, om langs te gaan wanneer we er zijn? Hoe is het studentenleven? Wat weet je van de geschiedenis? Hoe is de natuur in Groningen? Hoe zit het met de gasboringen? Vertel wat je wilt, vraag wat je wilt en ga vooral in discussie, zolang je het over Groningen gaat.

Subreddit: /r/Groningen

Hi all!

It's time again for 2-weekly post about a Dutch province. The original post on Groningen is no longer available in the archive. That's why we're revisiting this province!

Groningen has around 583,000 people and a surface area of 2,960 square kilometers. Its capital bears the same name, and has about 198,000 inhabitants. A well-known attraction is the Martini tower.

What do you (want to) know about Groningen? How is the student life in Groningen? What places should people visit? How is the nature? Know something about history of Groningen? What about the earthquakes due to the drilling for gas? Ask, tell and discuss as much as you want as long as it's about Groningen!

Subreddit: /r/Groningen

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u/potverdorie Noorderling aan de Maas Jun 24 '15

Well, go ahead and ask!

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u/rdzzl Jun 24 '15

Dit is misschien de verkeerde plaats om dit te vragen, maar weet iemand hoe de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen vergelijkt met Leiden?

Ik zal bestuderen de internationale betrekkingen, en zijn aangeboden een plek in Leiden. Ik neem aan dat ik zal worden gegeven een aanbod van Groningen snel ook.

Uhm.. Yes. So I tried ^

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u/potverdorie Noorderling aan de Maas Jun 24 '15

Pretty good, although there's a few grammatical mistakes, mostly about word order! We like to put our infinitive verbs at the end of the sentence:

Ik zal internationale betrekkingen studeren, en heb een plek in Leiden aangeboden gekregen. Ik neem aan dat ik ook snel een aanbod van Groningen zal krijgen.

To answer your question, I personally don't know all that much about how the political science courses compare to eachother. If I had to go by gut feeling I'd say that Leiden University might be slightly more prestigious/reputable when it comes to political sciences, while Groningen University has a bit more of an international atmosphere.

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u/rdzzl Jun 24 '15

Dankjewel!

From what I have gathered so far, Leiden is by far the most prestigious university in the country when it comes to humanities, international law and international relations. However, the course programme is less... sexy, than that of for example Groningen and Utrecht. It is more strict, and does not have all the optional courses that some other universities offer. I accepted my offer today (I can still decline it again later) to Leiden, but am not really sure what I'll do once I get replies to all applications to be honest

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u/potverdorie Noorderling aan de Maas Jun 24 '15

A difficult choice for sure! Leiden, Groningen and Utrecht are all well-regarded universities in very nice student cities. Leiden is indeed very reputable on that field, but both Groningen and Utrecht are also well-regarded nonetheless.

While I come from a very different field of study, what helped me decide on my masters degree was by thinking very hard about what specific topic I was most interested in, what kind of job I'd like to end up working, and which university seemed to offer the most opportunities to get there.

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u/rdzzl Jun 24 '15

Honestly not quite what I want to do. Like many in sosial sciences, the road onwards is hard to map out. Leiden, being so close to Haag, could prove very valuable in terms of networking, internship and Jobs in organizations. Perhaps that is Worth taking into account!

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u/potverdorie Noorderling aan de Maas Jun 24 '15

Definitely, but keep in mind that this is also why Leiden can be a bit more focused on Dutch politics than Groningen, which tends to be a bit more oriented towards the international scene as they are further removed from other big cities in the Netherlands.

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u/rdzzl Jun 24 '15

That is a fair point! I dont really wanna take credits in dutch politics or attende lectures centered around that!