A year at TIAS: the TIAS candy store

When making the decision to study a masters, one of my main deciding factors was finding a school that would satisfy my love for culture. This was something that I lacked in my previous study which in my opinion made my experience not as thrilling. When I first heard about TIAS, I thought like any other private school, the student body would mainly be Dutch students. Instead I was surprised to that this was far from true.

I can compare my first day of attending my courses to entering a candy store. As I entered the classroom the room was filled with students of different colors, cultures, backgrounds and experiences. As I walked in I could only smile at the tremendous cultural diversity in my presence, it was like a breath of fresh air. Being able to complete a study and also to have the opportunity to work with individuals that have different world views, is something every international student dreams of. It was right then and there that I knew my year at TIAS would be an endless walk through a candy store.

For someone that has had several cultural experiences, I thought I knew it all but studying at TIAS with people from cultures that I have never interacted with showed me different. This is especially the case when we do group work. Even though it can sometimes be difficult to understand each other’s perspective, it is always a learning experience with every group project that we do. Although we are almost through with half of the program at TIAS, I know for a fact that there is still more to learn and for that reason I am glad that I found the TIAS candy store. Where not only I can enjoy my study, but take in the cultural diversity it has to offer as well.


This blog was written by Full-time MScBA student Ibtissam Ben Baha (22) from Morocco.

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