Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Year abroad - is yours going? Soon?

75 replies

challengerequired · 12/08/2021 10:34

Dd is meant to arrive in France on the 1st of September. She's so nervous and anxious. She's meant to study at the university and has a room in halls.
She feels like she's the only one she knows who's actually going so soon- others are either doing virtual if non-European uni, or are delayed by visa issues - which dd doesn't have because she has an EU passport as well.
Just want to get a feel
for what's happening with others!

OP posts:
waltzingparrot · 31/08/2021 20:56

DS still not heard anything from Spanish Embassy despite their assurances he'd hear within 2 days about a visa appointment date. He's started Uni of Navarra pre-work today online and will continue the course online until he can get out there.

ifonly4 · 01/09/2021 08:13

Wowthatsalot From what I can gather the student is registered with a doctor in Scotland, but has had their vaccines in England - as they were done in a different region, it's not showing up on her medical records.

I guess your DC has contacted the doctor/119 to see if anyone can be done about it.

I think the problem your DC has it quite common, but no one is worrying until they want to go abroad, or in time need it for venues like nightclubs, and I don't know the answer. Has your DC applied for a paper vaccine pass? My DD got one as a backup and at the top NHS, NHS Scotland, HSC and GIG Cymru are printed at the top, so you'd expect them to marry up!

Wowthatsalot · 01/09/2021 14:07

@ifonly4 Not applied for the paper version as they said it would only show what's on the English system, ie one vaccine.

Every man and his dog has been telephoned.
Flight now booked and they are going to chance it based on Scottish and Channel Island student s having had the same thing

Wowthatsalot · 02/09/2021 10:14

Has anyone taken out specific insurance for their DCs possessions while abroad?

ifonly4 · 02/09/2021 10:54

Just asked DD about insurance for possessions, she hasn't thought about it! She's organised everything herself, but this morning seems to be busy confirming things, two phone calls, uploading documents for flight and a text from another student who's having problems. Also, apparently there's a rail strike the other end!

SusanBAnthony999 · 02/09/2021 12:14

@ifonly4

If your DD is going to Germany (DB rail strike) there is an alternative service still running between most major cities Flixtrain and Flixbus.

ifonly4 · 02/09/2021 17:03

SusanBAnthony999 thanks for that. The university have arranged for a student to meet DD at airport - DD has been in touch with her and she knows about the strike - phew. The student has collected DD's flat keys this afternoon and said she'll see DD to front door - not sure how this is happening but hopefully it works out.

waltzingparrot · 02/09/2021 19:52

Yay! DS finally got a visa appointment for 9 Sept from Spanish Embassy, so will probably get out there two weeks after the course started, but at least he'll be going (fingers crossed).

ChimneyPot · 03/09/2021 09:00

DD started as a freshman in a US university last weekend.
I went over with her and she got banking, SIM card for phone and dorm set up shopping done when I was there.
She sprained her ankle 24 hours after I left so had to navigate US healthcare herself.
Even with crutches she has been having a great time.

ifonly4 · 04/09/2021 19:28

waltzingparrot that's good news. Keep us updated.

ChimneyPot glad she's settled in.

After a couple of stressful days, DD's uni querying if they need a visa, upgrading travel to carry more luggage and not getting confirmation, worry over rail strike the other end, DD left today. We know she's landed and has another flatmate and another student on her course are already there.

MarchingFrogs · 11/09/2021 17:03

Well, after the very long afternoon last week handing over her documents in not so sunny Wandsworth, DD got her French visa through on Wednesday and yesterday afternoon DS2 and I waved her off at Stansted. Bit of a shock to the system, really, but she is meant to be there, so she needed to go.

Her landlady had agreed to meet her at the flat in the evening, but actually went to pick her up from the bus to save her trailing her case across town. She has also given DD the use of some bedlinen and crockery, which she wasn't expecting, but for which (along with the lift) she was extremely grateful.

waltzingparrot · 12/09/2021 11:06

Update and warning:
DS went to the Spanish embassy in London on Friday with all the correct paperwork, but he did have to phone home to ask for his NI number and EHIC card number, which they needed, but wasn't on their list. A lot of them were getting turned away because if they were relying on their university's travel insurance, it wasn't accepted. They had to have an EHIC card dated to cover the stay or have applied for the Global EHIC (DS managed to do this online while standing in the queue and get confirmation back, as proof, by the time he arrived at the desk).

The other thing he fell foul of, but they let him sort was, when they said 'photocopy of all pages in Passport', they do actually mean ALL pages. So they sent him to the stationers over the road to photocopy all the blank pages in his passport too (£15).

Up to 3 week wait for the actual visa now and then he's off.

waltzingparrot · 12/09/2021 11:09

And also, he has to go back to London, in person, to collect the visa. They won't send them in the post and you can't sent anyone else to collect it for you.

MaverickDanger · 12/09/2021 11:10

@MarchingFrogs I had the best year of my life on my year abroad in Aix!

Best of luck to all of your DCs. It was a year that changed my life for the better in so many ways. I ended up with so much confidence - as well as best friends, a husband and eventually a baby!

MarchingFrogs · 12/09/2021 11:53

I ended up with so much confidence - as well as best friends, a husband and eventually a baby!

Unfortunately, one of the girls in the same year as a schoolfriend of mine who did modern languages at university came back with just the last one of those from her year abroadShock. Fortunately, DD is unlikely to have her head turned by a handsome (or any other variety of) young man while she's there.
And it's possible that she won't hit it off at all (at least initially) with her long-suffering liaison person at the university, although I'm sure she won't be his only late arrival. It has restricted her choice of modules to ones which didn't have their first session last week, however.

@waltzingparrot, is the 'all pages' thing to have on record that you haven't also had / got a visa for somewhere that Spain isn't happy with?

waltzingparrot · 12/09/2021 12:14

@MarchingFrogs I'm sure there's a very good reason why they need them, but DS didn't ask. You would have thought the official could have just ticked a box to say they'd seen they were all blank though.

AvocadoPlant · 12/09/2021 17:33

Following with interest.
DDs friend has gone out to Spain on a tourist visa as her course starts this week, then she’s planning to fly back later in the month for her appointment at the Spanish Embassy. It sounds as though she will need to go back to Spain still on the tourist visa, then fly back a second time to collect her actual visa. Have I understood that correctly? And will the tourist visa be ok for the return ?

geogteach · 12/09/2021 18:02

Ds arrived in Morocco about 10 days ago. He stayed in hotels the first few nights and then moved into uni accommodation on Monday at least for the next month. He has finally met people on his course which didn't happen last year due to COVID and he has 4 hours face to face teaching a day which again considering there was none last year is a bonus. His main complaint so far is the gate
To the accommodation is locked till 8am so he can't go for a run as it is too hot later. He gave up on a visa as was told it might not be issued in the whole year he is there so needs to leave the country every 90 days.

waltzingparrot · 12/09/2021 19:14

@AvocadoPlant. Sorry, not sure about coming to and fro on a tourist visa. Although I think in your Dd's friend's case, I'd at least plead for them to send it - couldn't it go in a diplomatic bag and be collected from embassy in Spain?

AvocadoPlant · 13/09/2021 07:11

@waltzingparrot thank you for the advice, I’ll mention it to her mum. This is all very new and it has been a struggle knowing what to do for the best.

MarchingFrogs · 13/09/2021 08:53

The student visa goes into the passport, though - so if the passport is at the Spanish embassy in London, how can you travel back out to Spain whilst waiting for it? Or does Spain do it differently from France?

waltzingparrot · 13/09/2021 10:53

@MarchingFrogs They did keep DS's passport but did ask him if they could, or did he need it to travel in the mean time. I take it from that, they can put the visa in on the day you go back to collect it.

ifonly4 · 13/09/2021 19:15

waltzingparrot that sounds stressful. Good he now has a timescale for visa. DD has been waiting for her Ghic for six weeks - online application said two weeks originally. She's spoken to the relevant office and they've confirmed she meets the criteria for one, but it's a delayed waiting game. She has to apply for residence within 90 days, so hopefully it'll be through soon as residence appointments are hard to come by.

Marchingfrogs How's your DD getting on? Hopefully she'll enjoy her modules despite the problem.

geogtech wow Morocco, that sounds like an interesting experience.

DD went to Germany last week and was so grateful that a German student met her at the airport. She's doing a basic German course (all in German) through uni and then starts her course early Oct. She's met up with two English girls, and her flatmates (different countries) are joining in as part of the group at the moment.

geogtech -wow, Morocco, that sounds like an interesting experience. What's your DS studying if you don't mind me asking?

ifonly4 · 13/09/2021 19:16

Ignore, the last paragraph of my previous post!

MarchingFrogs · 13/09/2021 22:32

@ifonly4, the two messages I've had from her today mentioned nothing about her experience of the university, but rather, finding a box of Tetley teabags in a local supermarket and spending the evening in a bar with some newly-met friends of a friend.
(Which is an improvement on last night's plea for advice as to what to do with a moth and a large wasp which looked like taking up residence in her bedroomShock).