Pre-departure:
Visa:
This was my 1st time leaving the country, so the most important thing is to get a passport so that you may apply for a visa. I got my passport in February before I applied for the summer school. Please note that the German embassy is very strict about the size of the visa photo – they then asked me to go to this other shop to take a visa photo specific to the German embassy, so allow time for that.
Pre-departure:
I read up about all the summer schools and the one that immediately stood out for me was the EBS Law Summer School. It seemed to be an excellent course with interesting subjects relating to commercial law and exciting study trips. The school started on 6 June and my final exam was on 4 June, so I knew I could attend it after the completion of all my exams without missing any classes abroad.
By mid-April I was informed by Stellenbosch University that I was nominated to participate in the summer school. However, I didn’t start making bookings before I received an acceptance letter from the EBS institution.
As an avid traveller, I assumed that the pre-departure preparations would run smoothly. While I did not experience any major hick-ups, it is important to remember that preparation for a holiday is different to that of preparation for living abroad. The most important such difference is the visa application procedure.