Hi!
I've been accepted to the LLM in Maritime/Transport Law at EUR (sep/2013 intake)!
Who else is going? When will you arrive in Rotterdam?

We should get in touch (perhaps we could arrange a meeting to get to know each other before classes start), and we can help each other to find accomodation, because, according to that I've found out, it's not easy to find good and unexpensive accomodation in Rotterdam.
Has anyone found accomodation yet?

Cya!

Hi,
how's the course going so far?

Hey!

So far I'm really enjoying the course, but it's not easy! Many assignments, and a lot to study. Currently we have around 8h of lecture per week. The course has its problems, obviously (some things are not so well organize or a bit confused, i.e. we often find ourselves confused about how and when to do an assignment), but in general I think it's really good (it really forces you to study, and most professors encourage you to participate in classes).

Also, it is in Rotterdam, where the biggest port in Europe is, so we often have workshops/visits in the port, law firms, companies, etc.

Besides, the city itself is pretty nice, and - obviously - Dutch girls are gorgeous, hahaha.

Let me know if wanna know anything else about the course. But, so far, I'd advise you to apply!
Cheers

Hi Gustavo,
thanks a lot for your help!
May I ask you where are you from? :)
Also I'd have a few questions, if you don't mind!
Firstly, can you confirm that finding a room in Rott is pretty hard?
And what's the average price for a room? I live in Milan and a single room ranges from 300 to 500.

Also, do you know if with such LLM it is easy to be hired by local companies? I read the welcome video and the professor says it's not easy to be hired by local law firms.

Thirdly, can you give an image of the position of the ranking of EUR related to the other Unis? Is it a top Uni, an average one?

Forthly, do books cost a lot?Is there a way you can find second book ones or everytime you need to sign a mortgage because of the price? How are the online databases you can access?

Thanks a lot for the help Gustavo!

Also how may people are there in a class?
And where can I find the classes of your LLM? In the website I can't exactely find out them and the brochure takes a bit of time to be sent by e-mail!
thank you a lot in advance!

Ciao, Marco! Sei italiano, uh? Io ho uno amico italiano che studia con me ed anche si chiama Marco!

Bene... prima, io sono Brasiliano.


ROOM
Second (yeah, English is better, sorry), I wouldn't say it's exactly "hard" to find a room here, but they're pretty expensive. Comparing to Milano, for example, you can find some rooms here for around 300 euros, but normally they're a bit far, and usually in the south of the city (an area known for being not so safe) and/or far from the center/uni. I used to live in Capelle aan den IJssel (a small city beside Rotterdam), my place was 15min from uni and 20min form Rotterdam center (by bike), and it was 350 euros/month. Now I live in Rotterdam, 20min from uni and 5min from the center, in a very big room, and it's 420 a month. So I'd say that's usually pretty much the average, four hundred something... if you're willing to pay some more (450-500), you can find nice places right in the center or Kralingen (where the Uni is). I know some lucky people who live in awesome places for pretty cheap (around 300, 350), but that's an exception. Maybe I'm paying a bit expensive, but based on all the rooms I've seen on the internet (and I've seen a LOT!), it can still get a lot more expensive than that, hehehe.
The good part is there's a ton of websites where you can look for rooms (including on Facebook: Rotterdam Housing and some stuff like that).

Here are some websites: http://www.eur.nl/english/prospective/information_about/howtoprepare/housing/accommodation_providers/private_market/
Both rooms I've lived in so far, I found them on easykamer.
Oh, and also there's a building IN the University (the U-Building) for students, the apartments/rooms are pretty nice, and it's 550 euros/month.


LAW FIRMS
I'm not sure how hard it is to be hired, but I'd say it's pretty hard. So far I haven't applied for any internships, but I've been looking for a "general" job (part time job), cause I can work legally here (io ho anche citadinanza italiana), and it's pretty hard to find. Also, in order to be a "real" lawyer here, I believe you need a Dutch bachelor, so even if you can find a job in the area, it will probably be as a consultant, paralegal, in a company, etc. (a proper "law firm" might be harder).
Speaking the language certainly helps a lot as well. One of the main reasons why it's hard to find a job is that usually they want fluent Dutch speakers. Jij moet Nederlands spreken!


RANKING
Regarding the ranking, when I checked, I think it was considered as number 70 worldwide or something, and I think it was the 2nd or 3rd in the Netherlands. But, you know, that's quite relative...
I remember once I read here (in the llm-guide) that, in the NL, for LAW, Leiden was the best university (that's kinda common ground when it comes to law), Universiteit van Amsterdam was the second, and the other ones were pretty much the same, but they're all good.
Bear in mind also that it's the only Maritime Law course here in the NL, and Rotterdam has the biggest port in Europe, which is certainly a big plus.
This is the ranking I saw: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013-14/world-ranking
Erasmus is 73 worldwide, and 3rd in the NL (but the 2nd place, Delft, is a technology university, nothing to do with law).


BOOKS
As for the books, I don't think they cost that much, but I still can't tell for sure.
We are gonna have 4 "blocks". For the first one (only one introductory subject) we didn't need any book.
Now, on the second one, we have three subjects. The book for one (Law of the Sea) was 40 euros; the book for the other one (Carriage of Goods) I didn't buy, cause it's available online for free; the most expensive by far is the reader for the other subject (basically a lot of copies from various books, legislations, articles, etc) made by the university itself, which costs absurd 120 euros.
There's a facebook group called "Commodity Market Rotterdam" where people sell all kinds of stuff (bikes, couches, TV's, etc), and I often see books being sold there (or people looking for one to buy). However, I don't think Maritime Law books are that easy to find there, heheh. Best option would be to get in touch with former students (like me and my classmates, in the future) and try to buy it from them.
We do have an online database, and I think it's pretty good, but to be honest I haven't used it that much yet.


CLASS
In the course itself, we are, in total, 50 students. For the first block we had more presentations and discussions than "real lectures", so we were divided into 2 groups of 25. Now we have lectures together, and in some lectures we have some "extra people" (in one class I think we have around 100 people total, but for the other ones it's probably only 5 "extra" people or something).

Our classes are:
On the first block, Research & Writing Skills (basically several written assignments, one mini-thesis, and some oral presentations, with discussions between the students. Obviously it's all about Maritime/Transport Law, so it's not only for your writing skills, but you also start to learn something about Maritime Law).
Now, on the second block, we have Carriage of Goods, Law of the Sea and Law of the Ship.
After this I'm not 100% sure, but I think we'll have 3 more: Charter Parties & Bills of Lading, Marine Insurance and Marine Casualties.
And, obviously, the Master Thesis.


Wow, I believe that was probably quite a long answer, hahaha, but I hope I could help.
If you need any more tips or info, don't hesitate to ask! If you prefer, you can send me an email directly as well (emaildegustavo@gmail.com).

Arrivederci!

Olà Gustavo!
Muito obrigado pra la tua ajuda e..legal! Eu achava que eras portugues o brasileiro para o apelido pinho que tens, gostava de adivinar isso mais calhei-me para nao fazer gaffes! :) De onde vem o rapaz italiao que conheces?
Entao, acho que agora seja melhor si falamos ingles, assim que si alguem quere saber essas informaçoes, ao menos possa entender tudo!

So, first thing is, I've been selected for commercial and company law LLM, I hope this doesn't scramble things too much!

In case you still need to move in to another apt, I can suggest you this website (http://www.housinganywhere.com/), really nice, user-friendly and stuff!
Concerning the job opportunity, I really hope it's more feasable to be hired there, because I'm aiming at leaving my country and live abroad for a long time and I hope this LLM will help me. I've been looking for statistics about job experience after the LLM but I couldn't find anything, so I really hope it works! I think I'll have to contact the professor or something! For instance in my Italian university I can find for the Master's Degree the percentage of people hired with any faculty and programme and lenght after 1, 3 or 5 years.

About the ranking, I found a better chart you can spend in your cv ;)
http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2013/law-and-legal-studies
According to this ranking (concerning legal faculties) it's in the 51-100 range, I'd dare saying 54th in the world while UvA is just a few places up (not a relevant gap, I'd say) and UVB is way lower. As you correctly said, my friend, Leiden is really high, as well as Maastricht and Utrecht. The Netherlands has always had the reputation of good field for international law, given its position. But also keep in mind that those rankings are to be considered carefully. For instance a criterium is the size of the univeristy. Well, I know some Italian Universities that lie in a big city, hosts thousand and thousands of students, doesn't make any research at all and is high ranked, while I know some colleges in Italy that have less than a thousand students, make a lot of research and are poorly ranked, even though big headed geniuses are there (not nobel, though, but still highly remarkable experts). So that there's no official ranking to trust, but you should analyze deeply every university.

The books aspect worries me a bit, indeed: in Italy every exam needed a 40/50 book and I won't forget civil procedure law which costed me more than 200. Go figure how expensive it was to prepare 32/33 exams with such prices! While for instance, during my exchange in Barcelona, I didn't need any, as the library was wide enough and we students could share a book. Also, in that university, the databases were massive: I could access the Oxford one, as well as part of the Harvard one, then lexis nexis, science direct, amadeus and I'd love EUR to provide such a big service! :)

About the extra people, I'm wondering how can you have 100 people. Where do the further 50 people come from? Probably do you share classes with students from arbitration LLM? Also, what's the internationality rate? Much Dutch people or what?

Also, can I ask you why did you choose an LLM and why in Europe? My goal is to adquire an international diploma that I could use to work in Europe as I am not aiming at any Italian bar. Furthermore, a LLM in Us is really expensive and often of bad quality. Take into account, for instance, San Diego: 60'000$ for a LLM and it's the 200th in the world. Do you share the same scope or what?

Lastly, do you know where can I find a syllabus of the LLM? I can't find all the mandatory and facultative classes unfo :(

Pois, agora jà posso falar portugues, keke! Entao, muito obrigado pela ajuda, espero que vc possa responder e nao tenha problemas para essa conversaçao! Atè Logo Gustavo, muito obg outra vez e força "Brasiu" para o mondial de futbol! :)
Abraço

Hi!
I've been accepted to the LLM in Maritime/Transport Law at EUR (sep/2013 intake)!
Who else is going? When will you arrive in Rotterdam?

We should get in touch (perhaps we could arrange a meeting to get to know each other before classes start), and we can help each other to find accomodation, because, according to that I've found out, it's not easy to find good and unexpensive accomodation in Rotterdam.
Has anyone found accomodation yet?

Cya!

OMG, I'm so sorry, Marco, hahaha, can't believe I took this long to reply! Guess I was really busy back then, I read your message but I forgot to reply. Scuzi!

Anyway...

Nazaar, there are many websites where you can look for accomodation: easykamer.nl, kamernet.nl, housinganywhere.com, etc. But I'd really recommend checking on facebook:

Commodity Market: https://www.facebook.com/groups/347234598675189/?fref=ts
ESN Rotterdam Housing: https://www.facebook.com/groups/267418519950215/?fref=ts
Student Housing Rotterdam: https://www.facebook.com/groups/452485241501744/?fref=ts


Indeed it's not easy to find cheap acomodation here, especially in nice locations, so I'd recommend start looking asap.
Good luck!

OMG, I'm so sorry, Marco, hahaha, can't believe I took this long to reply! Guess I was really busy back then, I read your message but I forgot to reply. Scuzi!

Anyway...

Nazaar, there are many websites where you can look for accomodation: easykamer.nl, kamernet.nl, housinganywhere.com, etc. But I'd really recommend checking on facebook:

Commodity Market: https://www.facebook.com/groups/347234598675189/?fref=ts
ESN Rotterdam Housing: https://www.facebook.com/groups/267418519950215/?fref=ts
Student Housing Rotterdam: https://www.facebook.com/groups/452485241501744/?fref=ts


Indeed it's not easy to find cheap acomodation here, especially in nice locations, so I'd recommend start looking asap.
Good luck!

Actually, now I'm pretty sure I've already replied to this message, but probably there was a problem on the fuckin website and the reply wasn't posted, hehehe. Anyway, I'll just reply again briefly.

My italian friend is from Sardegna (Cagliari).
We're around 50 people in the master itself (maritime law), but in almost every course there are some "extra" students (from other masters, or exchange students taking some courses here). Also, for one course (carriage of goods) I think we were together with the whole corporate law master, so there were over 100 people in the classroom (but it was the only "busy" course).
In my classroom, out of ~50 people, I think 15 are Dutch. So yeah, the international rate is quite high (I think there's also a "Dutch version" of the same master... that should explain it a bit). And I think there are also around 7 chinese and 7 greek (there are MANY chinese and greek people here).

To be very honest, I mainly wanted to travel, hehehe, and with a master I could travel and do something professionally relevant at the same time. Plus, since I have an Italian passport, the tuition fee was relatively cheap for me. And also, I know maritime law is a "promising" area (in Brazil, but also worldwide), and Rotterdam hosts the biggest port in Europe, and the University is really good... anyway, I had all the good reasons to come (plus, Dutch girls are really cute! hahah).

About the syllabus, I'm not sure, but I'll try to find it, if you haven't received it yet. Have you?

E por que diabos voce fala portugues? hehehe ja morou no Brasil ou algo assim?
Se precisar de mais algo, é só falar!
E vamo, Brasil! Ganhar essa Copa, hahaha!

Abraço!

OMG, I'm so sorry, Marco, hahaha, can't believe I took this long to reply! Guess I was really busy back then, I read your message but I forgot to reply. Scuzi!

Anyway...

Nazaar, there are many websites where you can look for accomodation: easykamer.nl, kamernet.nl, housinganywhere.com, etc. But I'd really recommend checking on facebook:

Commodity Market: https://www.facebook.com/groups/347234598675189/?fref=ts
ESN Rotterdam Housing: https://www.facebook.com/groups/267418519950215/?fref=ts
Student Housing Rotterdam: https://www.facebook.com/groups/452485241501744/?fref=ts


Indeed it's not easy to find cheap acomodation here, especially in nice locations, so I'd recommend start looking asap.
Good luck!