It’s hard to believe that four weeks of navigating canal-lined streets, studying 17th-century anatomical art, and figuring out Amsterdam’s tram system have already come to an end. When I think back to the beginning of this experience, I’m struck by how much has changed and not just in what I’ve learned academically, but in how I see myself, my future career, and the world around me. I’m leaving the Netherlands with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for everything this program gave me.
Key Takeaways: In and Out of the Classroom
When I first arrived in the Netherlands, I wasn’t entirely sure how studying early modern Dutch medical history, analyzing paintings like Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, and reading centuries-old medical texts would connect to my future. Now, looking back, that connection feels much clearer.
One of the biggest things this program taught me is that healthcare has always been about more than science. Reading Hippocratic texts, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, learning about Narrative Medicine, and even researching sensory-accessible museum exhibits all came back to the same idea: healing begins with communication. Patients and clients rarely come with a perfectly organized story or a straightforward explanation of what they’re experiencing. They bring pieces of their lives, memories, emotions, and experiences that don’t always fit neatly together. As future clinicians, we have to be willing to listen to those stories and understand what exists between the lines. This program helped me develop what is often called “narrative competence”—the ability to listen closely, make sense of complicated experiences, and recognize the person behind the diagnosis.
That lesson extended beyond the classroom, too. Living in Amsterdam gave me a completely different perspective on how our environments shape our well-being. The city is designed around people rather than around cars, and that difference is noticeable in everyday life. From the bike lanes and public transportation to the way neighborhoods create spaces for people to slow down and connect, I became more aware of how much our physical environments can influence our quality of life. It made me think about mental health on a much larger scale. We often talk about supporting individuals, but individual well-being doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The places we live, work, study, and interact with can either create additional stress or make everyday life a little more manageable. Amsterdam taught me to think about that idea as a kind of structural empathy. Understanding that caring for people also means paying attention to the systems and environments surrounding them.
How This Experience Changed My Future Vision
This program didn’t necessarily change the career path I had imagined for myself. Instead, it gave me a clearer understanding of the kind of professional I want to become, I’m leaving the Netherlands even more certain that I want to pursue clinical psychology, but I’m also leaving with a broader definition of what it means to be a good clinician. I don’t want to lose the human side of psychology while focusing on research, assessments, diagnoses, or evidence-based practice. If anything, this experience reinforced how important it is to hold both sides together. There is incredible value in empirical science, but there is also value in understanding the person sitting in front of you – their story, their environment, their culture, their experiences, and the meaning they have made from all of it.
As I move into my senior year at Pitt, I know I’ll carry that perspective with me. Whether I’m conducting research, observing a clinical case, or eventually sitting across from a client, I want to approach people with curiosity before assumptions and empathy before conclusions. Four weeks in the Netherlands gave me much more than academic credit. It gave me new questions to ask, new ways of looking at healthcare and humanity, and a clearer sense of the kind of professional I hope to become.
And, of course, it gave me four weeks of memories that I’ll be carrying with me long after I leave Amsterdam.
Advice & Tips for Future Students
If I could give one piece of advice to the next group of students coming to the Netherlands, it would be to let yourself experience the city instead of trying to conquer it. When you’re studying abroad, especially at this point in college when you’re somewhere between being a student and figuring out what comes next, it’s easy to feel like you need to make the most of every second. You want to see everything, visit every museum, take every day trip, and somehow document it all. But some of my favorite moments happened when I stopped trying to follow a plan.
First, trust your feet more than your schedule. You are probably going to walk an unreasonable number of steps every day, so bring comfortable shoes. Seriously. You’ll find yourself wandering through streets you didn’t plan to visit, crossing canals just because you liked the view, or turning down a random street and discovering a café or shop you would have completely missed otherwise. Bring a rain jacket, too—the weather can change quickly—and keep a small tote bag with you for anything you pick up along the way. But more than anything, come with an open mind and be willing to get a little lost.
Second, slow down. One of the biggest cultural differences I noticed between the Netherlands and the US was the relationship people seem to have with time. Back home, it can feel like we’re always rushing to the next thing. We work while we eat, answer emails while we’re sitting with friends, and sometimes feel guilty for doing nothing at all. Here, I found myself becoming much more comfortable with simply being present. If you walk into a café and see a sign asking you to put your laptop away, take it as an invitation rather than an inconvenience. Close the screen. Eat your stroopwafel without doing three other things at the same time. Sit by the canal. Talk to the person next to you. Let yourself have an afternoon that doesn’t need to be productive. I think that was one of the most valuable lessons I’m taking home with me.
Finally, don’t treat studying abroad like a checklist. Of course, take the pictures, visit the museums, try the food, and take the weekend trips. Those memories will stay with you. But give yourself permission to simply observe, too. You don’t need to understand everything about a place immediately. Let yourself notice how people move through the city, how history shows up in everyday life, how art changes the way you look at something, or how a different environment makes you think differently about your own life. For me, the most meaningful part of this experience wasn’t just seeing the Netherlands. It was realizing that I could see things differently because I had stepped outside of what was familiar.
So, wherever you find yourself next, let yourself get lost, slow down, stay curious, and leave room for the unexpected. The best part of being abroad is not everything you manage to check off your list. It’s the person you become while you’re here.
