Freek Soetenga is not your typical University of Tennessee student. He was here at UT for only one semester back in 2007, but his time here was enough to make him want to come back. In fact, he's here now on what is his second return trip to Knoxville.

Soetenga, who is normally a university student in Tilburg, Netherlands in leisure studies and human resource management, came here because it presented an opportunity to travel and learn about the world and himself.

"I was really afraid of going to school for four years, graduating and then being stuck, so I wanted to go somewhere before I graduated," he explained. "I always like to meet new people and learn about their cultures, learn new languages, learn about how they're different from the Netherlands and as how the U.S. are always in the news and in the movies, everybody has an opinion. I wanted to try to verify all these opinions about it (the U.S.)."

Soetenga also says that his experience here surprised him, particularly with respect to the university lifestyle.  He spoke about how the university system in Tilburg, and the Netherlands as a whole, works as well, saying that many simply go to class and then simply go home, unlike here.

"More people stay at home in the Netherlands," he explained. "Here it seems like once you go to college, you move away from your parents and you really get absorbed in college life. College is more like your life here. You meet your friends here, you go to class with them."

He also talked about how the curriculum can differ.

"We have to choose a direction form the start, but here at UT, it's more like general education. It's much broader. You also come in whenever you want and do what you need to do. You only have to pass the exams usually," he said.

Soetenga says he hasn't returned just because of the academic experience.

"I came back twice, just to see friends and to see how it was here, if it was still how I remembered," he explained. "You can always travel, but you don't get the experience until you live there. When I come back, I don't feel like a tourist here at all.  It was the best semester of my life."