Duncan at EM Strasbourg, France

Pre-departure:

If you are reading this and haven’t started with your application, start now. Try and put as much effort into your application as possible. It may feel very time consuming, but all the effort will definitely pay off once you get selected. Put at least a full weekend aside to do the whole application. The video takes some time.

Once you have received that phone call from the International office and accepted the nomination, start with your admin as soon as possible. You will only receive your travel bursary once you’ve been accepted at the partner university. This can some time.

Start looking at flight tickets early to make sure you do not miss out on any deals. I recommend booking through Student Flights or STA Travel, since they offer great student packages. Try and pay with a credit card, as this will automatically include your travel insurance for your trip.

I did my Visa through a company called Capago and it was ready in 3 days. Just make sure all your documents are correct and are in English.

Start planning what you want to see in the area you will be living and plan some possible weekend trips. I was the only one who really did this and ended up planning most of our weekends once at the summer school. I wouldn’t recommend booking everything beforehand because you will make new friends and might want to change your plans. Just get a general idea of everything you want to see.

If you can afford to travel before or after your summer school I highly recommend you do so. I solo travelled to Paris and Amsterdam for a few days after my summer school and had the best time.

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When packing try and cater for a wide range of weather conditions. One week it was constantly raining with a hail storm and the other resembled hot summer weather. Definitely pack an umbrella.  Also take a few things to get you started as you will be living in an apartment with minimal cooking equipment. I took some coffee, oats and peanut butter to help out with breakfasts.

At the summer school:

On arrival in Strasbourg you will be welcomed by either Daniella or Jordis, both very nice and helpful. They will show you your room in the residence you will be living in, which is right next to the university. It is not what we are used to here in Stellenbosch and the mattress is a little bit on the thin side, but I came to love it after a while.

I chose to share a room and got paired with Khuong, from Vietnam. He was not as proficient in English and most of our conversations just ended up with us laughing. Living with someone from a completely different culture is a great learning experience as you learn to relate to someone in a completely different way than what you’re used to.

The residence is in a pretty nice neighbourhood, with a supermarket, bank and bakery just around the corner. Every Tuesday and Saturday there is a market right next to the residence. Here I bought my fruit for the week and could get very nice meals at reasonable prices.

I arrived one day before the summer school started and could familiarise myself with the environment and explore some parts of the city. I attended the second session of the summer school, so the group attending the first session had already been living in Strasbourg for two weeks. This was helpful in the sense that they already knew where to do their shopping and where all the student specials were.

The group attending the summer school was very diverse and came from countries such as Spain, Vietnam, America, Australia, Argentina, Pakistan, England, Haiti and Russia. So you can just imagine the vast cultural differences in the group. In my time in France I learnt more Spanish and phrases from other languages than French itself. I learnt a lot from all these cultures and the way they do things. It challenged my perspective on what we as South Africans see as the right way to do or approach something.

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The summer school courses were really interesting. I study Industrial Engineering at Stellenbosch University, so attending a business course was something completely different for me. The various subjects covered a wind range of topics and the lecturers were engaging and well prepared.

Most of the lectures are three hours long and it was quite a challenge to pay attention for that long, being used to 50min lectures back home. The projects and tests are not too tough and we could successfully complete them without too much effort.

The sun only sets close to 10pm, so you still have lots of time for exploring after class ends. During the summer there are various events happening at night in the city, so be sure not to miss those. On the weekends I had the privilege to visit the Black Forest, went to the Eurockeenes festival in Belfort, saw the picturesque towns of Heidelberg and Basel, and spent a weekend in Munich.

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Return to Stellenbosch:

When people ask me what  the highlight of my trip was, I struggle to pin point an exact thing or experience. Yes it was cool to see some of my favourite bands at a festival, or visit Paris and Amsterdam, or surf the Eisbach in Munich. But what I see as the highlight of my trip is the people I encountered over the five weeks living in Europe.

Living with people and getting to know their cultural norms and behaviour really opened my eyes and challenged me in what I see as diversity. I went to Europe with an open mind and a desire to meet new people and learn from them. Living with people different from yourself, forces you to transcend cultural boundaries and embrace your differences and celebrate your similarities. I would be lying if I said all of it was comfortable, but looking back now I wouldn’t exchange it for anything.

This trip has opened my eyes to a complete new world; one which I thought was previously inaccessible. It made me think a lot more like an “International” and I have attained valuable skills and knowledge that will benefit me for the rest of my life. It stirred in me an even greater desire to travel and experience as many cultures as possible. At the same time this trip also made me appreciate South Africa and our unique culture so much more. Being home, I am more inspired to explore our diverse culture and transcend the cultural boundaries we set up ourselves.

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If you are still thinking of applying, just do it. This will be one of the best experiences of your life.