I decided to go to Belgium by bus. However, I had a ticket to Lille and the bus didn’t stop in Kortrijk. So I arrived in Lille and called my coordinator, who was responsible for HANTAL students, and he met me in Lille and took me to Kortrijk, to my residence. He also gave me an envelope in which I found keys, instructions for students and a map of the city.
Starting
When all of the students had arrived, KATHO held a meeting for us with a presentation (about KATHO, registration, health insurance, lessons and trips). During the meeting we received: agreements(housing/studying) timetables, student cards, student transport tickets,and... a NEW learning agreement. I was surprised because I had filled in a learning agreement at my home university and it was signed by my dean, and now there were not all of the subjects that I had chosen before, so I had to select some subjects just for the ECTS points.
Welcome day
Before commencing studying, the university offered a special party – Welcome Day. On that day we visited the City Hall in Kortrijk, where we received more information about this place and registration procedures, after that they offered a party for students.
We had a lot of lessons every day. The teachers tried to involve us, and everybody was interested in it. However, we had to work hard as they gave us a lot of tasks such as projects, opinions, group works, simulation games and even we had to write a book! Some subjects were only for a few days, for example, the first exam I passed only 8 days after the welcome day. Fortunately we also had free time for doing other things and I enjoyed the studying process in KATHO. It was not complicated and it was interesting!
Trips
Also KATHO offered special trips to: Paris, Amsterdam, London and Bruges, and tickets were cheap, so we could visit a lot of places, and of course we travelled a lot because it was cheap (special tickets) and easy(geographical location).
We did not have any problems with the staff as the teachers were kind and responsible and they always helped us.
Katho does a lot of things for students; everything is for students, and there is nothing more to say.
Oleksandr Matkovskyi