“I study International Hospitality Management at Hotel Management School. The study offers more than 30 different minors in the Grand Tour programme. Every campus of NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, the international campuses included, offers different minors which you can do as part of your Bachelor programme. I chose to go on Grand Tour, because I really wanted to do Advanced Wine Studies in South Africa.”
Background knowledge: from worldwine till rainfall
“The minor is offered in a collaboration between NHL Stenden South Africa in Port Alfred and the Cape Wine Academy. It consists of three courses, which I had to achieve. We spoke about wines from the Old World and the New World, tasted and analysed them. We also learned about, for example, the different soils of the vineyards in Pauillac (France) and the average rainfall in Marlborough (New-Zealand). Quite intense!”
Great learning environment
“Studying in South Africa is a challenge: I did not only live in a new town, I also had to adapt a different culture. I am quite direct and efficient, by nature, so it took some patience and effort getting used to the more relaxed mentality in South Africa. But absolutely no regrets! It was an amazing experience, during which I met and worked with extraordinary people and learned a lot about a big passion: wine.”