Studentenverhaal Manu

“I heard about Marine Sciences at a WUR open day. I was talking with a study advisor from Biology about how I could specialise in Marine Biology as quickly as possible. They mentioned that a new bachelor's degree was in the works: Marine Sciences.

I doubted between Biology, Animal Sciences and Marine Sciences. I dismissed Animal Sciences as domesticated animals weren’t my interest at all, but are a big portion of the study. I struggled with the decision between Biology and Marine Sciences for a long time. I chose Marine Sciences because courses on human physiology, physics and chemistry were courses I performed worst in in high school. Marine Sciences features this less, and it was also more my piece of cake as I was already quite interested in governance as well.”

“In the first two years, Marine Sciences offers little room for arranging your own courses. It is packed with mandatory courses to make sure you have a big package of knowledge on different topics to start your research. I don’t think this is a bad thing because this broad range of topics has led me to shift my interest from marine biology to human-nature interactions and governance and I am planning to do a governance and policy minor at another university in the Netherlands next year.

The system-based courses are really some of my favourites. The course Global Water Systems and Climate Change taught us different models to identify problems and predict their future impacts on a whole ecosystem, but also local inhabitants and tourism. Additionally, I found I get a lot of energy from governance and policy courses like Marine Governance and Marine Food Systems. In these courses, we had to analyse problems and create policy suggestions, which was very interesting.”

“Of course, the field project courses have a special place in my heart. In the course Field Project Marine Sciences, we went to Texel for a week and participated in actual research like identifying the catch of a Wadden sea trawler for a larger database, and also performed our own research project. As mentioned before, I am a part of the board of Minoa, which is the study association for Marine Sciences. Here we organise activities and make sure the association runs, but we also represent the study during meetings with the study team and at events. On the weekends you can find me in Burgers’ Zoo where I’m a volunteer guide in the Ocean and Mangrove. It’s amazing to get to be in the zoo so often and talk about subjects close to my heart. I also work a part-time job as a first aider at events almost every weekend. You can find me at all kinds of events, from sports matches to festivals.”

“Wageningen is not like any other student city. While we do have the student associations and parties, it’s a very small community. I think that’s a good thing. I can bike from one far end of the city to the other in 15 minutes, and if you walk through the city centre you’ll always see someone you know. Even though it is such a small city there is something for everyone. From sports like quidditch to parties at The Bunker. And from finger painting with your study association to relaxing at the Rijn with your friends, Wageningen has it all.”