A Blog about Education Abroad

Author: Sarah

  • Jason in Portugal

    Jason in Portugal

    Jason attended a summer school with the theme Optimization and Decision Support Systems for Supply Chains (III) (Portalegre, Portugal). Here is his story.

    After receiving notification about a summer school in Portugal I decided to take a chance and seek funding for a cultural and academic journey. After hearing of funding opportunities from friends I thought that I might have a chance at this experience. Applying for funding was easy, a simple mail and I was given all the details and information I required. The personnel at the university are friendly and helpful. Travelling from South Africa abroad has some challenges though. With the weakening rand my initial funding was only sufficient for my plane ticket and visa. Fortunately I was able to seek additional funding from my department. I offered to bring back knowledge to help my fellow students who I would have to leave behind. This would be in the form of a colloquium and a workshop. With funding for fees and accommodation I was set. All I needed to do was conquer the hurdle of travelling with the Green Mamba passport which many countries are afraid of.

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  • Louwrens in China

    Louwrens in China

    Louwrens attended a summer school at Tsinghua University in China; here is his story.

    Pre – departure:

    As students from Construction Management and Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, we were granted an opportunity to attend a construction engineering summer school at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The department of Construction Management and Engineering sponsored us with the registration fee and accommodation for the summer school and we also applied for extra funding at the international office of Stellenbosch University. Tsinghua University accepted our application and sent us a letter of confirmation to attend the summer school from 2 June 2014 until 10 June 2014.

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  • Alexanderie in Germany

    Alexanderie in Germany

    Here is Alexanderie’s story.

    Getting ready to go abroad:

    I had already been to Germany before, but I didn’t have to prepare for the trip myself as I was still a helpless teenager. However, as a Namibian citizen studying in South Africa, I am familiar with immigration with Visa requirements and steps to take. Unfortunately, I experienced some problems as well.

    Firstly, for the passport photos required for the Visa application, make sure to go to a photographer who knows what the photograph requirements of the German Embassy are. I unfortunately had to pay double because my first sets of passport photos were rejected. Secondly, especially for foreign students, there is a new law in South Africa that prohibits the sale of certain foreign currency to countries with their own reserve bank. This as far as I understood applies for Namibians and Zimbabweans as well. I didn’t get a chance to go back to Namibia before the trip and therefore, I could not exchange any money here or get a travel card which is far cheaper than having your usual MasterCard. The bank charges are extremely high and thus, it is wise to withdraw a large amount of money once in Europe. Also, if possible ask the bank to increase your withdrawal limit if you are going to use your normal MasterCard. This will facilitate the withdrawal of a large amount of Euros. (more…)