A Blog about Education Abroad

Tag: Belgium

  • Elretha at KU Leuven, Belgium

    Elretha at KU Leuven, Belgium

    Pre-departure:

    I did not have to make a video or apply to study abroad as I was chosen based on performance to do a summer school at KU Leuven in Belgium.

    This made my preparations for the trip abroad a lot simpler. However, we struggled a bit more when communicating with the university in Belgium as they took long to reply, frustrating all the people involved trying to organize this trip. This makes me so thankful for the great team at the international office at Stellenbosch.

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  • David at KU Leuven, Belgium

    David at KU Leuven, Belgium

    Pre-departure:

    I suppose this part of the trip is as almost as exciting at the trip itself, well at least that was my experience.

    After being called in and offered the opportunity to travel abroad due to our academic achievements in our undergraduate studies, it took a few days for the excitement to really kick in. I think it was great in the sense that the university acknowledged our achievements in a way none of us expected them to. All of a sudden the sacrifices we made during our studies had paid off and been recognised.

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  • Marina at Ghent University

    Marina at Ghent University

    Pre-departure :

    I would advise anyone making the trip to Belgium to A: get your police clearance forms ready/sent away and B: make an appointment at the Belgian consulate the moment you get accepted to do an exchange. I found the most helpful sources to be two friends who had done an an exchange the previous semester who sent my the right documents.

    Some practical advice:

    1. Be over-prepared when you go for the Visa application, rather take more copies of everything than less.
    2. Do NOT wait for your police clearance for before making the appointment at the consulate, they don’t need the certified one for the appointment, this can always be scanned and sent later.
    3. Make sure the visa payment is made correctly to their bank IN BELGIUM. I made the mistake of paying it into their South-African account. This overseas payment is a MISSION and once again semi-archaic (…could someone please spread the good news about PAYPAL??)
    4. I found Bidvest to be the cheapest way of handling money in the beginning before opening a Belgian bank account.

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