About

Somebody has already made your mistakes for you

That is the whole idea. AzSA is the Azerbaijani student association at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and it exists so the next person does not have to work everything out from scratch.

Why this exists

Every year a new group of Azerbaijani students arrives in Rotterdam and spends months solving problems the group above them already solved. That is the whole reason this exists.

Which office issues what. Which document needs an apostille before you fly. Why the bank will not open an account yet. Which "landlord" is a scam. None of it is hard once somebody tells you, and all of it is expensive to learn alone.

So the people who have been through it write it down, and they stay reachable. If a guide does not answer your question, a person will. That is why this is an association rather than a blog.

You should be able to arrive already knowing what your teaching year actually looks like. How lectures and tutorials run, how much reading is real and how much is optional, what the exams are actually like, and which courses will take up most of your semester. People a year ahead of you know all of it, and they will tell you.

What we do

The guides: Fifteen of them, from the BSN to where to buy proper tea. Written by students who did it recently, and dated. Read them.
Events: Tea evenings, a proper Novruz table, film nights, dinners that go on far too long, study sessions in exam season. What is coming up.
The group: A chat that answers at one in the morning, and a set of people who understand both what you miss and why you left to study here.
The calendar: The dates that matter back home, explained for people starting from nothing. The culture calendar.

Membership

Two tiers, both paid yearly, and the first ten of you get in for nothing.

Passive

5 euros a year

The baseline. Paying it makes you a member, and paying it is how you agree to be one. The payment details reach you by email once the board has approved your application.

Association announcements and updates.
Attend public events.
Member price on selected events.
Access to the association community and network.
Voting rights, where our statutes allow it.
A way to support the association without taking anything on.

Active

Applications closed

10 euros a year

Applications for active membership are closed for now. Join as a passive member in the meantime. We will announce it here and by email when active places open.

Everything passive members get, and the things that run out first. If you want a say in how the association is run, this is the tier that gives it to you.

Priority registration for events with limited places.
Discounts on selected events.
Access to members only activities.
Priority for trips, workshops and special activities.
Only active members can stand for the board.

For both membership types, we are also working on partnerships with Azerbaijani and Turkish restaurants across the Netherlands to provide exclusive discounts for our members. The discount is expected to be roughly 15 to 30%. This benefit is currently under development and will be announced once the partnerships are confirmed.

You do not have to join to come to a public meeting

Some of what we run is open to anybody, member or not. Those are announced to anyone who has subscribed to updates, which costs nothing. Membership is what gets you the rest: the dinners, the trips and the group chat.

The first 10 members join free.

No fee at all for the first 10 people who sign up and are approved. After that passive membership is 5 euros a year. It is the same membership either way, on the same terms, with the same say in things.

How the board gets picked

Only active members can stand, and that is the one hard rule. Beyond it, signing up first or fiftieth makes no difference. Selection is on what you want to do and what you can take on. Roles carry responsibilities and nothing else, and no role gives anybody power over another member.

Become a member

Helping run it

Board positions turn over every year, and committees form around whatever needs doing. Events, this website, chasing sponsors.

Say so when you sign up, or tell somebody on the board at an event. Committees are open to any member. Standing for the board itself needs active membership. The rest gets learned on the job, usually badly at first.

Founded in 2026. Questions about any of this go to azsaeur@gmail.com.