So, it’s official: you’re studying abroad. You found the perfect country, you applied to the perfect program, and you were accepted. You’ve picked your courses, you’ve figured out your finances. Now all you have to do is hop on a plane and you’re ready for the best semester of your life…right? Not exactly. The hard part may be over, but you still have lots to take care of before you leave. Once you’ve figured out where to go, what program to go on, and how to pay for it all, it’s time for the nitty-gritty details. Don’t let that plane take off without you come next year—make sure you take care of these all-important details in advance, so when you finally do leave for distant shores you’ll have nothing to worry about but having an amazing time!
Apply for a Visa
The first—and most important—thing to figure out is your visa. It often takes months to secure a visa, and you have to go through lots of red tape to get that little stamp on your passport. And before you can even apply to get that stamp, you have to make sure you’ll have a passport to put it on. Check your passport and make sure it doesn’t expire until at least six months after you get back. If not, you’ll need to get a new one—go here to apply. Once you get your passport under control, ask your study abroad office what steps you need to take to apply for a student visa.
Depending on the country you study in and the length of your stay, you’ll need to get either a short-stay or long-stay visa, and either way you’ll need to apply through that country’s consulate. Look up which consulate is closest to you—for some countries, there are consulates in every region of the US. The visa process differs from country to country, and in some cases can be a huge pain in the butt. For example, Marlyse, a student at Cornell University studying abroad in France, says her visa process took over two months: “I needed to register and apply through a study-abroad website called CampusFrance, then I needed to set up an appointment with the French consulate in my region, then go back twice to apply for and pick up my visa.” Other visa processes are simpler: Samantha, another college student studying abroad, said her process was very quick and easy, and the application only took a few hours to figure out.
Talk to your study abroad advisor and find out if you’ll need a short-stay or long-stay visa: it completely depends on the country, and some require that students who live in a country for more than 90 days get a long-stay student visa. As soon as possible, apply and set up an appointment with your consulate (you’ll DEFINITELY need to go to the consulate) to minimize any tight scheduling. Ross, a student at Skidmore, wasn’t able to go abroad to Italy this semester because he couldn’t get his visa on time. “It definitely taught me to budget my time better and be more organized, and now I’m going to go abroad in the summer instead,” he says. You’ll need a bunch of documents to bring to the consulate—this completely varies by country, so make sure you have a thorough list (if your study abroad office doesn’t have one, go to the consulate’s website) and get everything WITH A PHOTOCOPY OF EACH DOCUMENT before you go.
Before you go to the consulate, make six copies of your passport—one for you, one for your parents, one for your abroad program, one for the airport, one for your abroad university, and an extra. And make a quick run to CVS to get some extra passport photos taken—in Europe, especially, the government loves to stick your photo on EVERYTHING. Better safe than sorry!
Here’s the visa info for some popular study abroad destinations:
Find a Place to Call Home
Once you get the ball rolling on your visa, it’s time to start thinking about housing. Talk to your study abroad office and the directors of your program (if you’re applying through a program and not just directly enrolling in a university) about your housing options. You may have no choice but to live in a dorm, in which case, live it up—you’ll get free wi-fi again! And a meal plan! But if you’re going to be stuck with a roommate, talk to others you know on the program and decide if you want to request someone as your roommate. Now that you’re a junior or senior a random roommate might seem less of a novelty and more of a nuisance.
If you have the option to stay in an apartment, compare prices—it might be more expensive than dorming or living with a host family, especially if you’ll have to pay for your own food. It may be the best option if you’re not too strong in your country’s language, since you’ll only be speaking with your American program-mates and not a foreign family or group of students. And it definitely offers the most independence; nothing says you’re growing up like making it on your own, in your own apartment, in a foreign country. But if you’re hell-bent on becoming fluent in a foreign language, don’t stay in an apartment—it will be almost impossible to force yourself to speak the “target language” when you’re surrounded by English speakers.
A home-stay is the best option for “total immersion”—not only are you forced to speak a foreign language whenever you’re at home, but you’ll also be forced to eat authentic foreign food, observe foreign domestic customs, and really see how people in your host country live. Who knew that in some French houses the toilet is in a separate room from the sink and shower? I certainly didn’t, until I moved into my French home-stay.
Insure Yourself
You’ll also need to talk to your study abroad advisor about health insurance while abroad. Most study abroad programs require students have emergency medical service and basic doctor’s appointment insurance. If you receive medical insurance through your school, they will be able to translate that insurance abroad for you or help you figure out your options. If you have independent health insurance, you’ll need a letter from your company saying you’ll be covered while abroad—call them up and ask whether your plan translates overseas.
Ask your abroad office about International SOS—it’s the world’s leading emergency insurance company, and many foreign universities will require that students register with SOS before leaving to insure they’re getting coverage abroad. At Cornell, each student was given an SOS card that was paid for by our abroad program, but it differs from school to school. Even if your school doesn’t provide it for you, it’s a good idea to ask how you can get International SOS or other emergency insurance on your own so you won’t be stranded if you break a leg in Interlaken or get food poisoning in Florence (although, is that even possible with their incredible cuisine?) Find out more info about International SOS here.
Book Your Flight
While some lucky study abroad students have their flights taken care of by their abroad program, many of you will have to figure out how to get overseas on your own. Start booking flights as soon as you have your program’s dates confirmed—the longer you wait, the higher the prices will get.
If you know anyone else on the program, try to book flights together. You’ll be eternally grateful when you step onto foreign territory with a familiar face next to you—plus, a cab ride back will be half the price! If you don’t have any friends on your program, ask around at your pre-departure meeting or stalk your group’s email listserv until you find a plane buddy; better to reach out now, since you’ll be spending a lot of time with them in the coming months anyway. Why not make your first abroad friend over a Cosmo quiz on the way over?
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Pack up and Read Up
Once you’ve gotten your visa, planned your housing, found an insurance plan and booked your flight, you’ll be ready to go—but make sure you FEEL ready before you take off. Buy a few guidebooks on your country and read them before you leave—some good choices for students include the Culture Shock series and the Let’s Go series. Get an idea of the layout of your city of choice, the culture of the people there, and the main tourist attractions, so you’re not surprised once you get there. Having read a guidebook on Paris before my departure not only made me the star student of my orientation group, it really helped cushion the inevitable culture shock we all felt when we touched down in France for the first time.
And don’t forget to pack with purpose! This isn’t college, ladies—you can’t just throw everything you own in a giant duffel bag and hope that hot pink bandeau from your high school dance team will come in handy for a theme party somewhere down the road. A lot of programs, in fact, will have restrictions on how much you can bring. Samantha, a junior at Cornell studying in Spain, says her program only let her bring one suitcase and one carry-on. “It really forced me to edit down my clothes and only take what I really needed,” she says, “which ended up being really helpful for traveling.”
Look up the weather of your city beforehand, and only pack for the first half of the semester. For example, if you’re going to Italy in the fall, pack mostly summery clothes, with a few options for if you travel to other cities or if it gets cold at night. If your parents come to visit you, they can bring your jackets and sweaters with them, and if not, they can ship them in October or November—otherwise, they’ll just take up room in your suitcase and in your drawers for three months.
DO pack your favorite toiletries from home, though—chances are, you won’t be able to find Neutrogena Body Clear Body Wash in Pink Grapefruit in Copenhagen…and this may seem crazy, but bring your favorite snacks! I can’t tell you how much I miss my favorite food of all time, Pretzel M&M’s, in France because they haven’t been released here yet.
Before you leave, a few more last-minute things to take care of:
- If you have a BlackBerry, make sure you get international service or buy an international SIM card. Be warned—BBM isn’t totally free, you still have to pay for an international plan, and calls are very expensive even on BlackBerrys! Make sure you find out the details of your particular plan before you leave.
- All study abroad students should get a pay-as-you-go cell phone once you arrive abroad. This is the best way to save money on phone calls, and the $30 or so you’ll spend each month is nowhere near the hundreds you’d spend on your American phone. Plus, it’s the best way to get in touch with new international friends!
- Change your money from dollars to Euros, pounds, or whatever other kind of currency you need BEFORE you go. You’ll avoid a stressful line—and sky-high fees—at the airport.
- Finally, don’t forget to make a trip to Best Buy or a hardware store and buy voltage converters and plug adapters for your electronics; nothing’s worse than getting into a foreign country with no way to charge your phone.
- If you have any questions about what to pack, classes, housing, money, just about anything, no one is more useful than past participants in the program. If you don’t know anyone who’s been on your program in the last few years, ask your study abroad advisor to put you in contact with them—they’ll probably be more than happy to share their experiences with you!
Sources:
Samantha, student at Cornell University
Marlyse, student at Cornell University
Ross, student at Skidmore University