A Blog about Education Abroad

Tag: The Netherlands

  • Melanie at the VU Amsterdam Summer School, the Netherlands

    Melanie at the VU Amsterdam Summer School, the Netherlands

    Pre-departure:

    I applied for a Schengen visa through VFS Global agency. I had the choice of applying online or in person at their offices in Cape Town. I opted for the latter, as the sequence of the application and required documents were clearly explained on their website. Unfortunately, when I arrived for my appointment, I was told one of my documents still required certification. This meant an extra drive through to Cape Town again. Moral of the story: make doubly sure you have everything before handing in your document during your appointment. The application itself was processed and delivered to me in a remarkable 3 working days!

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  • Nicola at the Radboud Summer School, The Netherlands

    Nicola at the Radboud Summer School, The Netherlands

    The application process:

    Heading into my third degree I knew it was time I take the opportunity to travel abroad as part of an exchange program. I had been toying with the idea throughout my time at Stellenbosch University and as I look to finishing my MA soon – I knew that the time was now. Selecting a Summer School location was the easy part. I had decided a while ago that I wanted to travel to the Netherlands. My mother spent a few years of her childhood in Amsterdam, and I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to see where she had grown up. Additionally – most of my MA research deals with gender studies, and with the Netherlands being regarded as progressive in this field – I thought it would be fitting to travel to the heart of it all.

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  • Vonani at the Bayreuth International Summer School, Germany

    Vonani at the Bayreuth International Summer School, Germany

    Pre-departure:

    As soon as I found out that I was accepted for the summer school, I started preparing. I was about to write exams also so I made sure that I got everything out-of-the-way first so that I could fully focus on my exams. To go to Germany you need a Schengen tourist Visa. On this website (https://www.visa-germany.co.za/) they have provided a document with everything you will need for the visa application. If you aren’t sure of what they mean, you can always call the centre. It’s always better to contact the specific centre that you will be applying at because maybe they do things differently in each centre. I did mine in Cape Town and I only spent about 15 minutes there. It was very easy because I had all the documents and I had called them many times before my appointment to make sure that I had everything I needed for the application.

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