{"id":4297,"date":"2018-11-07T13:32:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T05:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.ift.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/?p=4297"},"modified":"2018-11-07T13:52:12","modified_gmt":"2018-11-07T05:52:12","slug":"exchange-in-the-netherlands-an-eye-opener-ift-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/exchange-in-the-netherlands-an-eye-opener-ift-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Exchange in the Netherlands an eye-opener: IFT student"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-4297 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-herald-lay-a'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"herald-popup\" href='https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-04.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"990\" height=\"556\" src=\"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-04-990x556.jpg\" class=\"attachment-herald-lay-a size-herald-lay-a\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-04-990x556.jpg 990w, https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-04-470x264.jpg 470w, https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-04-640x360.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-04-215x120.jpg 215w, https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-04-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-04-414x232.jpg 414w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"herald-popup\" href='https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-02.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"990\" height=\"556\" src=\"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-02-990x556.jpg\" class=\"attachment-herald-lay-a size-herald-lay-a\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-02-990x556.jpg 990w, https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-02-470x264.jpg 470w, https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-02-640x360.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-02-215x120.jpg 215w, https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-02-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Shown-Lei-02-414x232.jpg 414w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<span class='pum-trigger  popmake-4301  text-center font-blue' data-do-default=''>\u4e2d\u6587\u6458\u8981 \/ Summary in Chinese<\/span>\n<p>The Netherlands has for many years been a popular exchange destination for IFT undergraduates. Shown Lei, a student in the Tourism Event Management bachelor degree programme, was one of the latest representatives from the Institute to spend a semester in the West European country.<\/p>\n<p>Shown spent the second semester of academic year 2017\/18 as an exchange student at the NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences. Breda \u2013 which has a population of around 180,000 people \u2013 is in the southern part of the Netherlands. It is a picturesque city dotted with Gothic churches.<\/p>\n<p>One of the reasons why the Netherlands is so popular as an exchange destination among IFT students is because the country offers convenient access to the rest of Europe. During his stay there, Shown toured a total of 25 cities across an aggregate of 9 countries.<\/p>\n<p>He says being able to travel so much brought him plenty of new experiences \u2013 and also some surprises. Shown\u2019s experience of sleeping on the streets of Venice, Italy is a case in point.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know airports have opening times,\u201d he says. \u201cI booked a cheap flight [from Venice\u2019s airport] early in the morning and planned to stay at the airport the night before. Suddenly a staff member asked me to leave because the airport was closing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was his first experience \u2013 and he hopes his last \u2013 of sleeping on the streets.<\/p>\n<p>Shown adds that the wealth of new experiences he encountered while travelling around Europe made him more mature as an individual, and also more independent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take the plunge<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Shown says he was hesitant at first to go on exchange. He had been an active member of the IFT Student Union, and was considering running for President. Eventually, following advice from a trusted friend, he decided instead to spend a semester studying abroad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I arrived to the Netherlands, I regretted going out of Macao,\u201d he admits. \u201cI couldn\u2019t see any improvement in my English language proficiency, and in my knowledge levels. I couldn\u2019t even make many friends among foreigners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, things started to improve, Shown says. But it was only once he was back to Macao that Shown was able fully to grasp the benefits he got from the exchange programme, he reports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI strongly recommend IFT students to grab the chance to venture out and see the world&#8230; If you cannot go on exchange, then go for internship. IFT has connections with many hotels [outside Macao] for internships. We as IFT students should take advantage of these opportunities to go outside Macao in order to learn more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He gives a few words of advice for IFT students that might be reluctant to venture abroad on exchange or internship: \u201cYou need to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>IFT has partnerships with more than 100 universities and tourism organisations around the world, and strong links with close to 600 leading tourism and hospitality corporations, to offer exchange and internship opportunities to its students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Netherlands has for many years been a popular exchange destination for IFT undergraduates. Shown Lei, a student in the Tourism Event Management bachelor degree programme, was one of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":4305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,186],"tags":[767,482,847,848,899,93],"class_list":["post-4297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main_headline","category-utm-around-the-world","tag-exchange","tag-exchange-programme","tag-netherlands","tag-nhtv-breda-university-of-applied-sciences","tag-shown-lei","tag-tourism-event-management","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"views":1090,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4297"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4307,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297\/revisions\/4307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}