From the Netherlands to USCB: Cleo De Ridder
Cleo De Ridder’s home university is on the coast of the Netherlands, but she’s spending this semester on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, studying abroad at the University of South Carolina Beaufort.
Through a reciprocal agreement between USCB and HZ University of Applied Sciences
in the Netherlands, De Ridder arrived on Jan. 5 to live for four months on USCB’s
Bluffton Campus. Her classes are on Hilton Head Island.
De Ridder’s major at HZ University is Tourism Management, and she’s thrilled to be
studying Hospitality here in a world-class vacation destination. Through her coursework
at USCB, she has become acquainted with many aspects of the tourism industry that
are new to her.
“The resorts on Hilton Head Island are so huge and beautiful, very different from Europe,” she said. “You have a lot of timeshares here. We don’t really do timeshares back home.”
Before coming to USCB, De Ridder visited New York years ago on a family vacation, but she had never been to the South and didn’t know what to expect.
“I only knew what the media portrays, which is that the South is like the Wild West,” she said. “My mom was worried because she thought you could buy guns in stores. I also knew that you guys were big on hospitality.”
While she hasn’t come across any guns, De Ridder experienced Southern hospitality from the moment she arrived at the Savannah airport.
“I got off the plane and everyone was so nice,” she said.
Southern hospitality also came to her aid when she realized that not having a car is often an inconvenience in the U.S.
“I am lucky to have a friend who drives me to class on Hilton Head,” she said. “I also take the Sand Shark Shuttle.”
Being without her own means of transportation hasn’t stopped De Ridder from exploring during her time in South Carolina. She has visited Coligny Beach, Beaufort, Columbia, and Charleston, and she spent spring break in Atlanta with her carpool friend, Jana (JJ) Barden. Coming from a small town in the Netherlands, she was happy for the opportunity to spend time in this big city.
When not travelling, De Ridder spends most of her time working on projects and exams, which she described as comparable to the academic work she does in the Netherlands. She also enjoys eating at USCB’s Sand Bar dining hall.
“The first week all I ate was pizza. The food is so good though and it changes every day,” she said.
De Ridder said that her biggest cultural challenge has been the way professors and others speak English, because she learned British English.
“I would write c-ol-o-u-r, for example,” she said.
After a semester at USCB, she’s now happily speaking and writing American English – and wondering what will happen when she returns home to the Netherlands in May.
De Ridder is the ninth student from HZ University to study at USCB (Seven USCB students have studied abroad at HZ University), and she has benefitted from the generosity of those who have come before her.
“I want to give a shout-out to Vlad Rusu,” she said. "We know each other from school. He left USCB as I was coming and left me supplies in the Housing Office and told me that I would love USCB.”
When asked if she would recommend this study abroad experience to others, De Ridder
responded: “Definitely! I would tell them that change does not have to bad and to
just get out there.”