A Blog about Education Abroad

Author: Sarah

  • David in Strasbourg

    David in Strasbourg

    Here is David’s story.

    le début:

    In order to properly prepare for a voyage abroad, for whatever reason it is always recommended to put in the adequate preparation that one would need in order to have a successful trip. The mandatory things are obvious, book your ticket, organise your visa requirements (if you don’t have an EU passport, I fortunately do…), budget yourself adequately (!!) and finally orientate yourself with the city in which you will be visiting. I believe those aspects sum up the major part of the preparation everyone should do before going abroad, the more interesting and somewhat less direct aspects of your preparation however is up to you. Things that work for me and which I would recommend would be the following in regards to tips:

    Pack light: Try pack as light as you possibly can, optimally I would leave with my bag or suitcase 75% full because you always come back with more in terms of souvenirs and gifts you plan on bringing back home for friends and family.

    (more…)

  • Prema in Leipzig

    Prema in Leipzig

    Here is Prema’s story.

    Pre-departure:

    When I received the news that I was accepted to attend the Summer school at interDaF College in Leipzig, I was ecstatic. I couldn’t believe that I had the opportunity to go to Germany! The course consisted of four weeks learning the German language and also learning more about the German culture.

    As soon as I got the news, the first thing I did was sort out my Visa application. The Postgraduate & International Office gave me all the relevant information of what I would need before I send my application. But one can also check online on the Embassy’s website which documents are needed. I went to the German Embassy situated in Cape Town with all the documents and within a week I received my Visa. I was surprised that it didn’t take longer because I had only a couple of weeks to plan this trip, but the Embassy was so helpful and realised that they could not stall my application too much — very nice. (more…)

  • Bastian in Jena, Germany

    Bastian in Jena, Germany

    In Jena
    In Jena

    Pre-Departure:

    “Google your future”

    Do you know where you are going to work after your studies, including job title & company? If so, then doing an exchange is not as beneficial as for someone who doesn’t have a clue yet. There are many motivations that could lead you to think about an exchange. Friends brag about how cool the parties are in Europe, how many good grades you get at some universities or even that they made friends for life or found that life partner. Those stories make one start a thought process and that’s very important. Google your future means that you should start by looking for topics of your interest online. More specifically, look who publishes in that area of expertise. Where are those people based? Do those institutes or universities offer summer schools or exchange programmes? Are there conferences where they present, which include workshops? For example, I wanted to do an innovation management summer school in London. I found it by chance while I was looking for contact information of a professor. It seemed great. Knowing that there are such workshops, I quickly found more than one seemingly suitable programme by going through Google search with keywords like “summer school”, “academy” “postgraduate workshop”, “economics” and “innovation”. Doing that research made me understand better what I really wanted to achieve. It was getting out there to rub shoulders with bright minds in my area of interest. However, there are fantastic opportunities listed on the PGIO website. So you don’t have to go through all the trouble of finding a suitable programme by yourself. (more…)