What minor did you do? And where?
During my master, I followed a semester extra courses at the University of Groningen. When I started these courses, I already did all the courses for my master in Tilburg and I only had to start writing my thesis.

Why did you choose this?
I choose to follow courses in Groningen, because this university offers courses in CIS which Tilburg University doesn’t offer. I was looking for courses about the subject health communication and at Tilburg University only one subject is given about that, and in Groningen they have a whole specialization about it.

What courses did you do?
Persuasive Health Communication, Conversation Quality in Health Communication and Communication Advising. These courses were all 10 ects and lasted a full semester.

How did you like it?
The study and the city were very satisfying. I was lucky that in that semester there were very little registrations for the courses I wanted to do. Because of that, I was able to do all the courses I wanted to do and I wasn’t excluded for any course. For example, I did a subject had 50 registrations last year, but in my year only five students registered. I liked the small groups and because of that I got a lot of personal feedback from my teachers. The lectures were, because of that, very interactive. The courses turned out to be exactly what I expected and more. I learned a lot and I enjoyed it very much. There, I invested a lot more time in my study than I was used to, because I didn’t want to throw away half a year in Groningen, and besides that, I think the courses were very interesting. Partly due to this choice, in September, I was able to start my these in Tilburg about health communication, in which I specialized myself after this semester.

Did you live in a dorm?
Of course, I lived in a dorm to follow these courses. From door to door to my parents’ house it was 4.5 hours travelling.

Was it hard to switch?
For me it was hard to make the choice to go to Groningen, because it was so far away. I was scared that the study would disappoint me and that I would travel to Groningen for nothing. Luckily, the study advisor in Groningen was a very helpful woman, she helped me with all my doubts. Besides that, she helped me to find a similar study nearer to Tilburg, what was eventually easier for me. Only finding the way in the building was hard sometimes, but furthermore everything was nice.

Did you know someone else who did this minor? 
I knew absolutely nobody who did this minor. I only knew some people form the board of the study association, but they did completely other courses and I almost never saw them. It turned out that my new roommate had courses in the same building, so she could give directions. And furthermore, I came in contact fast with other students because the groups were so little. It turned out someone from Amsterdam was new too, who made the switch from the bachelor, so soon I was not alone anymore.