My name is Liam McConnico-Blanchet, and I’m a rising junior majoring in Materials Science and Nanoengineering. I had never even heard of Rice before I applied, but since I was from Texas I thought I may as well apply to the best school here. However, through the application process I began to learn more and more about our university and their engineering program, and I decided to become a MSNE major. I chose MSNE mostly because it incorporated my 3 favorite high school subjects: math, physics and chemistry, and since I don’t like biology, MSNE was a great fit for me. I’ve had a love for making and constructing things ever since I was young, so even if I never had to work again I think that I would still do a bit of craftsmanship as I really enjoy it. In terms of off-work time, I would enjoy traveling the world, and when I run out of energy I would really enjoy having a house either by the countryside or right near the forest so I could just relax and enjoy life.
Studying abroad was an easy choice for me for 2 particular reasons. First, I really like the engineering design minor, and thought that it might be fun to keep going at it during the summer time, especially because I had time off. Second, I’ve lived in Europe my entire pre-college life, so I wanted to come back and visit the cities and lifestyle that I saw so much of before.
Outside of the course, I’m really excited about not seeing as many cars in Amsterdam and just living life slowly and on my own time instead of constantly being in a rush to do things. Additionally, I have a lot of high school friends in Amsterdam so I plan on taking time to visit and reconnect with them for the first time in a couple of years. When exploring a city, at first I usually have specific destinations in mind. However, the more I walk, the more I get distracted and go off to visit a park, or just roam around the streets late at night. It’s much more relaxing for me this way, as no schedule means that I’m not really missing out on anything I have planned. This is especially the case if I have an activity I planned on only doing for an hour but ended up really enjoying, so instead of going on to the next activity, I can just keep going with the first one for as long as I’d like.
The University of Amsterdam students were extremely nice, and also very international. I know that Amsterdam in general is very international for college students because it’s one of the only countries in the EU that regularly provides English-taught majors, but it seems like the Dutch people are a small minority in a very diverse group. Furthermore, the University of Amsterdam students seem to have a much more genuine niceness, and were much more willing to actively engage in meaningful conversations, as opposed to some American students who only have superficial conversations.