A Blog about Education Abroad

Author: Sarah-J

  • Matthew at the University of Lausanne’s Summer Undergraduate Research (SUR) Program

    Matthew at the University of Lausanne’s Summer Undergraduate Research (SUR) Program

    Opting for an All-year Summer:

    There’s nothing quite like applying for an overseas experience as a student. You fill in a form with little expectations and send it away with minute hopes of an acceptance notification finding its way back to you. The incredible benefit of this situation is that when that email does come back to you, it should be a pleasant surprise. You can hear opportunity hammering at the door, eager to steal you away – but don’t get ahead of yourself, there’s plenty of delicate planning and managing to do before the trip.

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  • JC at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    JC at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    I loved my comfort zone, a lot. Then I left it and learnt a great lesson. Before boarding the plane, I spent weeks terrifyingly wondering why I chose to exchange a perfectly happy life for one I had no clue about. I was annoyed by those comfortingly saying that I would return in six months and that it would all be the same again, because they were wrong – it won’t be the same – and I needed someone to tell me to stay. Nobody did, so I flew away.

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  • Noluvuyo at the Radboud Summer School

    Noluvuyo at the Radboud Summer School

    Pre-departure:

    It all started with the visit to SU International to get more information on summer schools after having a chat with a friend on international opportunities offered by Stellenbosch University. The SU International staff was very helpful, their door was always open to explain and answer any questions I had on international summer schools. The visitation was followed by the application process which included making a video clip on why I wanted to go to the summer school and why the courses chosen. With the help from my friends in the Faculty of AgriScience, Department of Animal Sciences, we managed to produce a clip. I must confess, making a video clip was not as easy as I thought, if you do it right the first time, lucky you. It actually made me realize why most people freeze and forget their lines in auditions, now it was my turn, but fortunately, I was not freezing in front of the judges.

    Lesson from this, do everything in time so that you have enough chance to play around and edit your clip.

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