Tips on preparing for a semester abroad

[Maggiethecat]

Dd is starting a semester abroad next month, until August, and it feels like preparation wise she’s going for a weekend away!
she has accommodation and enrolment sorted but otherwise she’s just going with a suitcase and I gather will figure things out when there.

Any advice on things to consider to help the transition?

Health insurance?
With Brexit you may have reduced coverage in Europe. In Italy you’d only get emergency care. Anywhere outside Europe it’s essential.
Maybe start her off with new shoes, underwear, sportswear that will see her for a year.
Otherwise it’s all part of the experience.

My DD went for two semesters with a suitcase! We didn’t want to pay for more luggage and they have to be able to handle it themselves.

@Maggiethecat Has the uni not given talks or given them a fact sheet? A big tick that she’s got accommodation and presumably a bank account that doesn’t charge a fortune. Is it work or study? Visa organised if needed? I remember my DD had enrolment instructions at first uni and they had a dedicated office for this and familiarization activities and trips. I don’t remember dd taking much from uk other than clothes, laptop and phone. Bought what she needed as she went along.

It’s a steep learning curve if uni is disorganised but a smooth transition if it’s got everything sorted. DD was used to being away as had boarded at school and already spent a term in a South African school at 13 as an exchange boarded. They do seem to make friends and it’s good to travel a bit so try and make sure she can afford to do that. Otherwise, settling in seemed easy for DD.

Thank you both.

EHIC sorted but we’ll see if she needs more cover.

She’ll be there from March to August, so not very long. She has had some assistance and advice from her uni here.

I basically let her get on with things and I think she plans to open a bank account when there.

We’ll give her some euros to start her off, but basically she’ll be using her loan to fund herself. We’ll pay her rent as usual.

I don’t know what the accommodation looks like, but at £260 per month we’re not complaining!

When my DD did a year abroad she automatically had insurance cover through her UK uni - may be worth checking that out.

Teaching and learning methods vary substantially from country to country. It would be good if DD were prepared for that.

NA and Australasia have a lot of continuous assessment. Going there, you need to hit the ground running. Our students who have had trouble have been the ones who fell behind during term time. Things can spiral quickly.

OTOH, on the Continent students can be provided with enough rope to hang themselves. The assessed workload during term can be negligible, but the learning load can be very high compared to the UK. Students who don’t keep up are caught out at exams, and no one much cares (in many places) if they fail. A high level of self discipline Is required. Students need to be prepared in a different way.

The good news is that students who do prepare frequently improve their academic performance, because both of these approaches require better pacing than the British system. Many of our students go abroad on 2.1’s, learn the self discipline, and graduate with Firsts.

It sounds like she'll be in Europe, unless I've misread it, so not too far away.

My DD went to Japan for 4 months in 2022. She took 2 suitcases out, but sent a couple of boxes back via DHL or another courier. She bought a PAYG SIM when out there. She already had an account with Monzo which she was able to use and didn't need to open a new bank account. We bought insurance for her which was just over £100. I think it was from Tesco but I did an online search to find it.

It was the making of her. Although just 21 when she went out, she returned so much more resilient and self-possessed. Due to Covid, we couldn't go out there to see her so had to rely on WhatsApp and emails but we all coped.

Also on some exchange programmes it doesn't matter that much (for their home degree) how well they do, as long as they pass, whereas on others it counts just like home courses, so it's worth her thinking about that. If she already has an intermediate language level or more, she should try to avoid making too many Anglophone friends, in order to maximise the language exposure. Agree with point above about being aware of very different styles of teaching/learning/assessment in some countries.

Does she need a visa? If so, has she got that sorted?

Ah, yes - ‘euros to start out’. Thank you @Malbecfan

A Revolut card and check her mobile contract has a generous allowance overseas (with a lot of wifi data too) or the option to add a good roaming service.
Check passport expiry date!

I went for a year with a suitcase and big backpack! Everything else will be there in student accommodation so basically clothes, these days laptop and chargers etc, personal items. Just buy there what u need to eat, live and so much fun while there. Xxx

Very useful info here!
I know that she will have covered a lot of this but it’s good for me to double check with her.
I remember getting a better deal for her phone data end of last year but need to check if it’s enough for her.

Meant GHIC!

My top tip, having done this, is to register with the local healthcare provision asap if at all possible. Some countries you can just turn up at the GP surgery/ health centre and register as a patient with your GHIC. And you never know when you might need it.

@Maggiethecat At DDs first uni, doctor and all other admin was sorted at the Erasmus office there. Key to appartment etc. She is only in Europe so no need to load up with undies! Also you can go and visit! We went to both DDs cities.

Im sure your dd knows if uni work counts or not. My DDs didn’t but the work required by her home uni did. Boyfriend at the time spent a year at a Grande Ecole doing engineering and that did count. Your dd will know what the score is! Having said that, when DD was at Bologna there was massive confusion about what exam results were required - none for DD’s home uni but they thought otherwise so she took their exams. Nearly everyone failed apparently but DD didn’t. So it might be worth knowing what the host uni wants too. If she’s at a uni of course.

Following as DS looking at Canada for next year.

i think she’ll need to get clarity on assessments/exams from early on.

she says that it may vary according to module but so far sounds it’s more assessment based than home uni.

Not sure where your DD is going @Maggiethecat but if it is Italy be aware that exams are likely to be oral not written. My DD had to pass the year out there but grades didn't count for her UK uni.

It’s Heidelberg. Oral exams sound a nightmare, a bit like vivas for postgrad.

@Maggiethecat Yes, like a viva, but fortunately not as in depth! The examiners were very aware of the challenge of having to answer questions in a second language and seemed just to want her to be able to demonstrate some knowledge. I’m sure Heidelberg will be amazing! I hope your DD has a great semester there.

Be aware that in Germany you can do virtually nothing until you have registered at the local Bürgeramt. Without the Anmeldung you can’t open a bank account, get a German SIM card or a host of other things. In order to do the Anmeldung you need a rental contract and all the ID documents you can muster. Appointments generally made online, often you can’t just turn up. In Heidelberg the officials are at least likely to speak English, in eastern parts of Germany that is often not the case.

Also, depending on the nature of her enrolment at the uni, she may need an official health insurance waiver from the AOK or another state health insurance body - they won’t accept the GHIC direct, they will want this waiver form before she can get the enrolment and hence the student card. She may also need to pay the semesterbeitrag, which is generally about €250. Generally the student card also acts as a free public transport pass, so it’s a bargain really. But those issues will depend on the nature of the arrangement between her UK uni and Heidelberg.

I have a dc doing a degree in DE, so happy to give info if you have questions!

Maggiethecat - DS has just come back from a semester in Germany and had to have a blocked bank account and German government health insurance - GHIC not enough, and you can't just use holiday travel insurance either. The blocked bank account paid out each month into his German bank account so that covered his rent and phone direct debits, but he had to have €5000 in there initially to prove he could fund himself for the time he was in Germany and would make no claim on the German state (bloody Brexit). As LarissaFeodorovna says, your dc needs to go pretty much straight to register at the Bürgeramt. It took pretty much the entire semester for ds's visa to come through. He arrived at the very start of September, got it the week before Christmas so he was able to get home, as the they won't let you back in on the temporary visa. It was a tad nerve wracking as by this time he was out of the 90 days you are allowed to be in the EU, though they didn't seem unduly concerned about that as he could prove he had made an application. Also - you can't just stroll in to a bank, or pretty much anywhere, and just set up an account like here, you have to make appointments for everything, apart from sorting his mobile contract, I think. Blocked account it was possible to do online, but the Germans want to see every document so everything else was in person. Nothing else can be applied for online and the codes for picking up visas etc are all posted and they only had post Monday - Friday where he was, don't know if that's the same for the whole of Germany.

He did find the university's student medical facilities were good and accessible - he had to arrange a medical for his next semester abroad in another country and they did that without a problem, otherwise he had no call on their services but you don't have to register with a doctor if there are student med facilities on campus.

Think she got a waiver but I’ve asked her to check. She is definitely enrolled!

GHIC is definitely not intended for longer stays, but you may get away with it - my dc used it for the first semester, until we were sure that dc was going to stay for in DE for the whole degree. But we did have to get the waiver form from AOK (the state health insurance company) - it's called something like Befreiung von der Versicherungspflicht. Iirc we turned up to the AOK office with the GHIC and the Zulassung (the provisional offer of a uni place). The the Befreiung form was required in order to complete the registration at the university.

Be warned that German doctors' practices may not know what to do with the GHIC - I found a set of documents in German which explain to admin personnel exactly how and why the GHIC is valid, which seemed to unlock access to treatment when dc had a minor accident - if you want I can ask dc to find the link for this. But yes, I'd probably advise getting stand-alone insurance as well - check that it's valid for longer than 30 days at a time.

Thank you - I’ve forwarded this info to her. It may already be on her radar but I’ll make enquiries when I get the chance today too!