Like students abroad at Kasteel Well, Debadrita Ganguly is a newcomer to the Netherlands. Making a long-term move to the country nine months ago, Ganguly, who previously worked as an online exam center administrator, wasn’t sure where she would end up.

But when she saw a job listing to work at Kasteel’s 14th-century historical campus, she jumped at the chance. 

“I’m literally working in Hogwarts,” Ganguly said, referencing the mythical setting of the “Harry Potter” books.

Ganguly, who joined the Office of Student Affairs last month, is originally from India. She also lived in Australia for a year and a half, where she worked for Pearson VUE, a company specializing in computer-based test examinations, before moving to the Netherlands. It wasn’t her first long-distance move. 

“When I was a teenager, I left my home and settled in a different city altogether,” Ganguly said. “So I know settling down or going for a 90-day trip, how stressful it can be.”

OSA is a small, five-person team, including Ganguly, that oversees all aspects of student life during semesters abroad at Kasteel Well, from medical concerns and dining options to academic support.

While most of her day-to-day workload in the three weeks since joining OSA has been spent coordinating content for the Kasteel Well social media accounts, Ganguly said that providing students with emotional support is also something she is passionate about.

When she attended graduate school at Jaipuria Institute of Management in New Delhi, India, nearly a 24-hour train ride from where she grew up, she said there was an office similar to OSA that helped support her a lot. 

“[During that time] if I need[ed] a shoulder to cry [on] apart from my friends, [those] were like the OSA people,” she said.

She said her passion for helping students was also shaped during her time in Australia.

“I kind of grew this thing in me that I can help students with their academics and maybe their personal life as well,” she said.

Ganguly moved to the Netherlands with her husband in June 2024. While she said that finding a job in the Netherlands was initially hard, she found the cultural adjustment to be easy.

“People are really welcoming. They smile at you while you pass [them on] the road … and I think that is one of the very beautiful things about [the] Netherlands,” she said.

The adjustment process was made easy by the current OSA team and lead program coordinator Dojna Krecu, she said.

“The way she helped me here is commendable. She’s a sweetheart … and the rest of the team, they have been very welcoming,” she said, emphasizing the diversity and strength of OSA’s staff.

Senior staff members like Krecu have worked with castle students for almost two decades, and other newer hires have previously worked in community organizing and administrative work.

“Every member in OSA has a different capability of handling the situation,” Ganguly said. “Everybody has their own genre … [and] unique personality, everybody has something to learn.”

In addition to servicing general infrastructure needs, the office hosts weekly events to connect with students and helps plan extracurricular community excursions. OSA staff also helps to support students at Kasteel Well by assisting in their adjustment to a more European educational environment.

Many students like Sunsarrah Henderson, a sophomore visual media arts major, described experiencing a culture shock when it came to assessment methods at Kasteel.

“It’s almost like [Advanced Placement] testing where the course doesn’t really matter, the tests [are] what matter,” Henderson said, citing information sessions hosted by OSA at the beginning of the semester as helping prepare her for this “very big shift in perspective.”

With a background as a student and test administrator outside the United States, Ganguly has experience with this.

“During my school days, it was the same culture for me. You have to take a test … you have to get 90% in all your exams,” she said. “But these tests will prepare you for your lifetime because … it is all about discipline, preparing you for the future.”

As a millennial, Ganguly said she is also looking forward to learning more about Gen Z and connecting with them through her work at Kasteel Well, as well as experiencing American culture, having never visited the United States before.

“Going to [America] is maybe one of [my] dreams. Getting to know their part of their culture and everything, it’s probably one of the more interesting things,” she said.

As she begins her journey with OSA, Ganguly said she hopes to continue to learn about and from the students, as well as support them.

“I believe that every student is unique. Until you take the time to talk to those people, you [won’t] know how they are,” Ganguly said. “I’m here to learn, and that’s what I’ll be doing.”