A Blog about Education Abroad

Category: Semester Exchange Postings

Blog Postings by Returning Stellenbosch University Students

  • Theo at the University of Hong Kong

    Theo at the University of Hong Kong

    Pre-departure to Hong Kong :

    I had just returned from a winter school in China so I was sort of prepared already. I had my winter clothes packed, although I knew Hong Kong wouldn’t be as cold as Beijing.  Plus this would now be my second trip to the Asian region so I had a better vision of what it would be like culturally, demographically etc. So there wasn’t much for me to do besides enjoy my last few days at home, wait for my Hong Kong visa and residence approval (which were stressing me as it was mid-December and I hadn’t heard anything from them). But I later learned that I wasn’t placed in a residence which wasn’t an issue until I tried looking for private accommodation. (more…)

  • Aliza at Leiden University

    Aliza at Leiden University

    Pre-departure:

    The last week before leaving SA on my journey to Leiden, Netherlands, a lot of preparation still had to be done even though it felt like I was preparing for the past three months. Small things that you don’t think of, like finding the right plugs so you will be able to use your laptop, hair drier or chargers.

    Some things still had to be done at the bank. I was not sure if I should get a cash passport or use my credit card or cash until I manage to open a bank account here. In the end I took cash with me and managed to open a bank account at Rabobank quite easily.

    The last thing was to ensure that I had all the necessary documents printed and saved somewhere online. This is not an easy task as you receive millions of emails from both Stellenbosch University and your host university requesting different documents. Certified copies of your birth certificate, ID, Passport and any other thing you can think of.  (more…)

  • Anke at the University of Antwerp

    Anke at the University of Antwerp

    Preparing for take off:

    How I envy some of my fellow classmates with duel citizenship or European passports. When preparing to travel abroad you realize how much admin your green book can cause you (not even to mention the embarrassing awkward school photo). One of a few things you need for a Belgium Student Visa is police clearance. This document can be obtained from your local police station and indicates that you are not a smooth criminal. After getting all ten fingerprints, and two hand-prints (Yes, I also didn’t know that existed) done, your file must be couriered to Pretoria for authorization. Plan enough time for this as a lot can go wrong. In my case my first police clearance got lost somewhere on the way to Pretoria. It had to be reissued and re-couriered. When receiving this long awaited A4 sheet I was naturally ecstatic. The Belgian embassy would not accept this official police document (with the official SAPD stamp) unless it was apostilled by DIRCO (This means that another officer must say that the officer who signed the certificate is legitimate). Of course, this can also only be done in Pretoria. Some lessons thus far: do not to count your chickens before they hatch and make sure you build good relations with the courier service as you might need them a lot – we where lucky third time round.

    (more…)