Semester abroad - any tips?

[ShinyBlueTractor]

DS has just finished 2nd of 4 year Uni course and hopefully will be studying abroad in Europe next semester (course taught in English). He's been put forward by home uni but not yet done any of the other admin (not his forte). He'll need a visa and to sort accommodation.

Anyone else got experience of DC studying abroad for a single semester or longer, and what would your learning points/top tips be?

I'm wondering might it be worth the time/money to do a language course in the summer? He doesn't speak the local language and it might be nice to make basic conversation. Or better to just figure it out once there?

MeetMeOnTheCorner,
I've just checked, for local studentst window for application for accommodation is June.

Following with interest. Finding the process so stressful!

Hallelujah! Off to join right now!

It'll be fine. Different universities, different decade.

Eta - DD went last year and accommodation was released in July. No problem. It's almost like these foreign universities know what they're doing ....

I’d make him treat the semester abroad admin as a project with dates: host-university acceptance, visa/residence process, accommodation deadline, insurance, banking, phone, medication, and travel home. A short language course is useful if it gets him confident with basics, but the bigger win is sorting paperwork early before accommodation and visa deadlines start driving the stress.

Health insurance. Our DDs used Feather
https://feather-insurance.com/en-cz/health-insurance/expat

different European country but same expat insurance.
making claims is easy
accepted for the visa

Currently at a loss about mobile phone.
Dd intends to travel a lot...
I have seen you can get e-sims for a year which covers for this.
But uni/visa also wants her to have a local number to receive OTP.
So maybe see if we have an old mobile in a drawer and buy a sim card when she gets there?

Choosing accommodation was easy, there was only a choice of single or shared room.... Allocation to halls is apparently randomly computer generated.

@GertyFreely Some don’t have accommodation at all of course and any exchange section at a uk university will tell you some overseas universities are woeful and as DD and many others find out, they certainly don’t know what they are doing! Rose tinted specs firmly on with your comment. Erasmus did make it all easier.

Rose tinted specs firmly on with your comment

Not at all. My experience is more recent than yours.

Erasmus did make it all easier

Not arguing with you there!

@GertyFreely Recent experience is points scoring! It doesn’t make all overseas unis have accommodation! Very many do not and you cannot change that. Many dc have to find accommodation and it can be expensive. Breezily swiping me away with an insult doesn’t change facts.

If someone disagrees with you, you accuse them of insulting you.

You are suggesting that foreign unis are offering places late and this will cause problems getting accommodation. I think you're causing unnecessary stress based on your DD's experience many years ago. Now it might still apply to some unis but my comments are based on the experience of my DD and her friends last summer. In France, Spain, Belgium and Portugal.

They all found good, reasonably priced accommodation - some uni owned, some private. It all works out - with or, sadly, without Erasmus.

@SpiritAdder this is incredibly helpful - thabk you!

I did an Erasmus year in a central european country, course taught in English. Obviously this was pre-Brexit so logistically easier, but you need to consider bank accounts and health insurance carefully. Language-wise, it depends on the way the university runs things. My course was just for Erasmus students and English was the common language. The university ran a free language course for us too, but most of us were hopeless and could get by on the very barest essentials of please, thank you and beer. We spent all our time with other Erasmus students (we were all housed together) so picked up more German, French and Italian than I did Czech!

He should be doing this himself - it is a big adventure and he needs to do it on his own two feet to get the most from the experience.

Ah, sorry missed that you said he is going to Czechia. Charles University, Prague? If he is offered accomadation with the Erasmus students (is it still the halls in Hostivar?), take it. Admittedly it is nearly 20 years (!!!) since I was there, but they are great for meeting other students and when you are only spending one semester, you need that quick safety net. Private rents were easy enough and some people did get them, but I think they felt a bit left out of the parties and social aspect.

I am so jealous of your son - best year of my life!

That's brill @FluffMagnet sounds like you had a superb time!

Hello!
Can I just ask here if anyone has experience of semester abroad in The Hague?

My son is going for 1 term (which isn't quite a semester) from 31 August until 20 December. It's an exchange: he's at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire going to the Hague conservatoire.

The International office in The Hague are being pretty helpful with the documentation. Luckily he won't need a visa, just a residence permit, which they will apply for. That's a relief. Planning to get a Euros account for the time he's there. Need to look into health insurance next. Eurostar travel all booked.

The big problem is the accommodation (which to be fair we were warned about). The Conservatoire won't help, other than to give a list of agencies. He doesn't seem to qualify for uni housing. I've booked an AirBnB for him as a back up but it's very expensive (and still in the suburbs and not even particularly nice!)

Anyone got any tips / words of encouragement / experience! I'm trying to persuade my son to reach out to people who did the same exchange last year to pick their brains. His home institution have been resoundingly bloody awful (that's a whole other story).

@GertyFreely I find it’s always best to be prepared and many universities abroad do not have accommodation on tap. Mainly because many European students live at home. It’s vital to understand the culture of where you are going and not pretend there’s loads of university accommodation everywhere. It’s simply not true! As @GetItRight321 is finding out.

My advice is to look on student accommodation web sites. The uni/conservstoir won’t find it for you. In these situations there are student accommodation agencies and landlords register their properties. My DD booked viewings and stayed in a hotel whilst she looked. You could maybe go with him and start the process? We were not with DD and she did it all herself.

Talking to previous students is useful. Has the conservatoire not put on talks about the semester? No ex student contact? Seems a bit poor. However that’s how you find accommodation if the conservatoire doesn’t have an advertising board where landlords advertise. Often there will be a house or flat for students and you just take a room or the LL might live there. Often you cannot reserve a room in advance big you could try. At least familiarize yourself and DS with the agencies and on line advertising forums.

@MeetMeOnTheCorner I think maybe you've misunderstood me. I fully realise that the institution won't help with accommodation. I'm not judging them for that. It's a well-known fact that accommodation in general is problematic in the Netherlands. We have looked at all the websites recommended (and some others) and signed up with various agencies. It all seems a little early so I'm literally lying in wait. It would be really handy to hear from someone who has been through it in the same city (since everywhere varies) and might have some tips about which agencies delivered and which were not so good.

The conservatoire has put on some talks but they have been very wide in their remit and as a consequence not really helpful. There's not a huge take-up on study abroad so not a huge pool of knowledge. My son has already said that he is going to volunteer to help others in future years as he had to do an awful lot of research himself on about a dozen potential places. Really, someone in the 'Go Abroad' team should be co-ordinating that. It's been hugely time-consuming. And lengthy application processes, with recorded auditions etc.

My dd completed a year abroad in Europe
The best piece of advice she would give is to get in touch ( via LinkedIn etc) with students from your own university or other universities who have done the same course
My dd was given advice about different modules to take etc, accommodation , cheap places to eat , medical centres etc
All this advice was extremely helpful .

@GetItRight321 Sometimes there’s private ads at the uni as well. If other dc have been, can he contact them?