Author: Tessa Freberg | Major: Supply Chain and Organizational Management | Semester: Summer 2025
The tulip fields outside Amsterdam
In the spring semester of 2025, I studied abroad at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, Netherlands through the CIEE Business and Culture program. I had the privilege of visiting Amsterdam the summer prior and instantly fell in love with the winding canals, Dutch biking culture, and the plethora of museums located throughout the city. From here I researched university and program options to ensure Amsterdam was the right fit both academically and culturally.
During my time in Amsterdam, I took two classes online at Arizona State University through my CIEE program and three courses in person at the Vrije Universiteit. The mixture of online classes and in-person classes created the perfect study abroad experience as I was able to take an upper-level negotiations class through ASU and a fascinating sustainable supply chains course at the VU while maintaining a very flexible schedule. My sustainable supply chains course taught and challenged students to create and map complex supply chain networks through network design using linear and integer linear programs. This was the most difficult and the most informative supply chain course I have ever taken as we dived deeply into the mathematics behind major supply decisions and learned how to create our own supply chain networks. Overall, these courses are not offered at my home university and provided a truly unique academic experience as I scheduled negotiations with classmates across time zones or created complex network designs spanning multiple factories, warehouses, and customers while accounting for sustainability.
Taking classes at the VU was a fantastic experience as they regularly scheduled activities for study abroad students to meet each other and create a network in Amsterdam. These activities paired with the CIEE activities created plenty of opportunities to not only spend time with your program groupmates but also opening new ways to easily meet new people. Through this program I made many amazing friends taking trips all around the Netherlands hunting for windmills, frolicking in tulip fields, or just walking around the city for hours exploring new areas.
During my study abroad experience I was also able to visit a total of ten countries and over sixteen cities. Having a flexible schedule with online courses allowed me to travel far more often than others as I was able to do my work on planes and trains when I wasn’t in classes. One of the best places I was able to visit during this study abroad experience was Barcelona. Getting to see the Sagrada Familia up close and getting to have a sunset walk on the beach was absolutely a bucket list item and a dream come true. Additionally, during my spring break, I was able to go from Palermo to Naples and eventually ended in Florence. In Palermo I ate the most authentic Italian pizza then in Naples I got to walk the ancient streets of Pompeii and eventually ended my journey perusing scientific artifacts at the Galileo Museum in Florence.
This study abroad experience was monumental, and I am incredibly grateful to the Honors College for giving me this opportunity to study abroad. This experience allowed me to make many new connections around the world and to dive headfirst into a new culture and city. Additionally, it challenged me academically and provided many opportunities to learn things I would not have been able to at home. All in all, this was an amazing experience, and I will forever be grateful for all the amazing things that I have gotten to do.