Pre-departure:
I suppose this part of the trip is as almost as exciting at the trip itself, well at least that was my experience.
After being called in and offered the opportunity to travel abroad due to our academic achievements in our undergraduate studies, it took a few days for the excitement to really kick in. I think it was great in the sense that the university acknowledged our achievements in a way none of us expected them to. All of a sudden the sacrifices we made during our studies had paid off and been recognised.
After the excitement, reality hit. There were flights to book, visas to apply for, accommodation to arrange, potential additional traveling options to consider, foreign currency to purchase (the list was endless). But needless to say, it was also an exciting time.
And I believe this part of the process was where the benefits and developments I gained from the experience, started.
For this specific summer school we were responsible for most of our own traveling arrangements, the international office assisted us in the interactions with the foreign university (KU Leuven) and was available for further assistance from their side regarding our personal arrangements.
I tried to do things in order of priority, first I organised my flights (booked early to get better prices), then I did all things necessary to acquire a visa which included organising accommodation, certified copies of ID and passport etc. Once I had all my documents together I went to the Belgium Consulate in Cape Town and was fortunately granted my visa first time (make sure you have the correct documents, because they aren’t shy to turn people down). Once I had a visa I was able to purchase my Forex.
Through this process I learnt a lot about what goes on behind an overseas trip, all of these I previously was unaware of. I was surprised because I have traveled numerous times before but never had to do the ‘leg work’ myself. This was a great learning experience.
Once all of the above mentioned were done it came down to the small details like ‘what adapters will I need over there?’ and ‘how much money will I need?’ and ‘How will I get from the airport to where I need to be?’ and so on.
These are important details to consider – the small things will make a big difference once you are there (don’t count on being able to sort it out once you are there!)
All said and done, the pre-departure is largely as smooth as you make it. If you are disorganized and don’t make a ‘to do list’ you will probably find this process stressful and unpleasant. However, I made an effort to do things in an organised manner and other than a few small bumps along the way it was a fairly smooth process and added to the excitement as things were crossed of the list.
Two pre-departure tips:
- Have a list of things to do
- Have a folder and keep track of documents (make two copies of everything – just in case)
Experience at the host university:
This I think is the hardest part to put into words, as is the case with most amazing experiences.
On my arrival in Belgium (I landed at Brussels Airport) I found that there were bus and train strikes that day, I realised I would need to make an alternative plan to get from the airport to Leuven (about a 20 min drive). I began chatting to strangers who I thought might be from the varsity, and after a couple of conversations I was offered a lift by a guy (who happened to also be from South Africa!) who was heading to the varsity.
I arrived at the accommodation and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the place we were staying at.
Once we started with the actual course work at the University it was also very different to what I expected – their approach to teaching was quite different I found (less interactive).
I was excited by the fact that the course did not only focus on finance subjects (my personal field of study) but it also aimed to give us some insight into Europe as a whole and how they do business in an open market, they also taught us about their history and artworks and many cultural insights. All of this was very interesting and made the course a lot more interesting.
However, as I am sure you can imagine, it was a slight case of information overload. We were given such a vast amount of new information over the time we were there that it was sometimes hard to process all of it effectively.
Apart from the university lectures we attended, the university also arranged a number of trips for us which gave us a bit more exposure to Europe, just beyond Leuven, during our short stay. We were given the opportunity to travel to the Netherlands on a day trip to visit the Peace Palace and the Humanity House, both were interesting visits and added to a broader knowledge on the history of Europe. The second trip was optional (and at an additional cost) to Bruges. I decided not to go there, and rather went to Brussels for the day with a few of the other students to explore on our own.
We also spent a day in Antwerp which was a short train trip away, this was a full day done with tour guides (it was a long day with a lot of walking, but also a lot of information)
I felt that these day trips were highlights, particularly when we were given freedom to decide what we were and weren’t interested in.
When I compare the University experience in Leuven to that of Stellenbosch I must say I still prefer the lecturing styles and approaches taken by Stellenbosch (but perhaps that’s just because it’s what I am used to).
At KU Leuven the lecturers seemed to purely have academic knowledge and in some ways lacked the peoples’ skills required to captivate an audience. however, the lecturers were all very eager to share their favourite spots to hang out and places to see – and this was very helpful and made exploring the foreign place a lot easier.
Two tips for while abroad:
- Have a journal (even just to jot down significant memories)
- Have a camera and take photos!
Return to Stellenbosch:
On returning to Stellenbosch, and South Africa in general, it was a breath of fresh air. The feeling of coming home never gets old, and I personally was longing to be back to what I knew by the end of our trip.
It was good to get back to a place where the languages and cultures are familiar and you feel like part of the crowd rather than a stranger. This is what I enjoyed most about returning home.
When I had been back a day or so, and started listening to South African news again and just being back in Cape Town, I began to realise that although there are glamorous portrayals of Europe – they also face their challenges. And I began to realise that no matter where one goes in the world there are always going to be political stresses, and certain issues being faced by the people of that country.
This restored my faith in South Africa, and admittedly before I left I was becoming slightly pessimistic about our future, but the irony of going to the other side of the world was the realisation – that although we face our own problems we also have so much potential, and it is not only we that are facing problems. This trip really put me on track in terms of accepting the issues, but making an asserted effort to focus on the positives.
Interestingly enough, while we were in Europe and shortly after we returned, Brexit was one of the difficulties being faced by the EU. And it was interesting to hear how they were dealing with it. And at the time trying to understand what the outcomes of such an event could be was all they thought about.
I have always been a person who is eager to travel and see more of the world, however, after my visit to Belgium I don’t think it would be a place I would visit again. This trip certainly changed my opinion on Belgium as a place to go and visit. There is so much culture to explore and quite frankly, the beer is great!
Going on this trip has reignited my desire to go an experience new places and the people in those places – I hope to travel somewhere completely new in the not too distant future.
In terms of the trips impact on my desire to study abroad again, well I am currently in my Honours year and am not intending on doing my Masters, but I do believe that prior to this trip if I was going to do Masters I would have done it at Stellenbosch, but after having attended the summer school abroad I would definitely pursue it at a foreign university simply for all the new experiences that come your way as a student abroad.
