A Blog about Education Abroad

Author: Sarah-J

  • Liezel at KU Leuven, Belgium

    Liezel at KU Leuven, Belgium

    The reason:

    Let me start of with a caveat: I’m not your typical student. I’m 35 and in my third year of studies. In my previous life as part of the workforce, having 21 days annual leave was the norm. With never-ending deadlines, taking full advantage of this was a challenge and at the end of the year I always ended up carrying over some unused leave days.

    Imagine then the complete mind-shift when I became a fulltime student again with an average of approximately 12 weeks holiday per year. The concept was daunting. What was I going to do with all this time? I’m married and my husband still has to work, so long romantic vacations were not on the cards. Plus, of course, I don’t have the luxury anymore of saving up a salary for a fun-filled getaway to somewhere exotic. I definitely also didn’t just want to sit at home reading or binge watching series. No: I wanted to use this time in a smart way, maximising my four short years of being a full-time student again. I set out to learn as much as I can and challenged myself use this time to postion myself optimally for when I put down my pen during my final exam I’’ll be writing in 2018.

    So I made a rough list of things I thought I could keep myself productive with. I must admit, the holidays flew by faster than I expected and though I managed to do many of the things on my list, international exposure was always at the back of my mind. I was looking for an opportunity at the university that could support my hunger for learning.

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  • Kelvin at KU Leuven, Belgium

    Kelvin at KU Leuven, Belgium

    Pre-Departure:

    I was extremely excited when I received the news that I was part of a small group of students chosen to study abroad at the summer school in KU Leuven in Belgium! Our group was selected from the Department of Business Management based on academic merit and therefore we did not have to follow the usual application process required for international exchanges. However, the process we followed to prepare for the exchange was otherwise the same. There were a number of small tips and tricks I picked up on to make this period as easy and pain-free as possible.

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  • Emily at the University of Adelaide, Australia

    Emily at the University of Adelaide, Australia

    Pre-departure:

    I was in my final semester at Stellenbosch before I applied to study abroad. Looking back, I wish I’d done it much sooner – it was an amazing and enriching experience and I will carry it (and the skills and friends I acquired) with me wherever I go next.

    When selecting a Summer school and a course to apply for, I was initially overwhelmed by all the options. Stellenbosch has such a wide range of partner institutions that it almost makes sense to decide where you want to go before you even consider what you want to do. Having ruled out all the European options (I was hoping to go to Asia or Australia), I started looking at the courses on offer. I decided on a GIS course at Adelaide University in Australia, as it made the most sense from the perspective of skills I would need going forward. However, taking a course that was relevant to my degree was by no means a prerequisite – I could just as easily have chosen a course on history or philosophy or art. SU International encourages students to use exchanges and summer schools as an opportunity to expand their (academic) horizons.

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