The Student Room Group

Your Study Abroad checklist, what's on it?

Are you applying for a degree course with a study abroad option?

Here's three things you might want to add to your checklist when planning your time overseas.

1. Travel insurance
Going away for a long period of time can mean you need a completely different type of travel insurance to what you'd get for a holiday.

In addition to travel insurance, and depending on where you are going, it is strongly recommended by The Turing Scheme that their participants are in possession of either a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or a UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC).

2. Researching the country
Being prepared will always be an advantage, so take the time to get to know where you are going to.

You can start out by visiting the FCDO travel advice website and reading the official government advice. Ahead of travelling you can sign up for country alerts to receive email alerts when FCDO advice about the country you are in has been updated.

3. Pack wisely
Depending on where you are travelling to, you may not need to pack as much as you think you do. Just like researching a country's culture, laws, and visa requirements, look into what's available that you can buy once you arrive? That way you can avoid costly baggage fees.

You may also want to do your homework on what medicines you might need to arrange to take with you and what is available over the counter or with a prescription from a local doctor.

Finally, don't forget to take copies of your travel insurance, key contacts in case you lose your phone, details of your accommodation, and other information you might need to hand.

If you have been a study abroad student before, what was on your checklist?

If you're about to go, what questions have you still got that need an answer?
Original post by Travel Aware
Are you applying for a degree course with a study abroad option?

Here's three things you might want to add to your checklist when planning your time overseas.

1. Travel insurance
Going away for a long period of time can mean you need a completely different type of travel insurance to what you'd get for a holiday.

In addition to travel insurance, and depending on where you are going, it is strongly recommended by The Turing Scheme that their participants are in possession of either a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or a UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC).

2. Researching the country
Being prepared will always be an advantage, so take the time to get to know where you are going to.

You can start out by visiting the FCDO travel advice website and reading the official government advice. Ahead of travelling you can sign up for country alerts to receive email alerts when FCDO advice about the country you are in has been updated.

3. Pack wisely
Depending on where you are travelling to, you may not need to pack as much as you think you do. Just like researching a country's culture, laws, and visa requirements, look into what's available that you can buy once you arrive? That way you can avoid costly baggage fees.

You may also want to do your homework on what medicines you might need to arrange to take with you and what is available over the counter or with a prescription from a local doctor.

Finally, don't forget to take copies of your travel insurance, key contacts in case you lose your phone, details of your accommodation, and other information you might need to hand.

If you have been a study abroad student before, what was on your checklist?

If you're about to go, what questions have you still got that need an answer?

I've just come back from a year studying abroad in Heidelberg, Germany and I honestly had such an incredible experience!

When applying to Universities one of the things that most appealed to me was the option to do a Sandwich Year (also known as the year between second and third year). At the time I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a placement or study abroad but luckily Loughborough University, where I ended up going, allowed you to apply for a course with the year without specifying which one you wanted to do. I know this is the case for a lot of Universities and at some even when you're in your 1st or 2nd year, there can be options to add it into your degree but make sure to check with relevant admin teams!

Like I mentioned above, right up until the start of my 2nd year I was pretty confident I'd end up doing a placement as that was mainly what the rest of my friends in the year were doing. Whilst the idea of studying abroad greatly appealed to me, following COVID my confidence and awareness of opportunities was limited. However, once I started talking with the Careers team at my University and then the Placement and Study Abroad section within my school I realised that actually not only was there lots of opportunities available to me in terms of Universities across the world, but I was also able to access different sorts of funds to make the year more accessible for students.

Whilst a lot of the things leading up to me choosing to do a study abroad, and eventually choosing to go for Heidelberg, were because of my University, every University will have different schemes and opportunities to support you so make sure to look out for them. Following my Study Abroad I wrote a blog post within the FCDO Travel Aware Campaign with 15 things I learnt in 15 months in 15 countries. Throughout the blog I've tried to share some of the things I learnt but also things I wish I'd known before travelling alongside my Study Abroad including Visas, Insurance and Looking After Yourself!

https://www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/geography-environment/undergraduate/study-exchange/abi-brown-stark/

If you have any other questions about my experiences following this please reach out by replying in this thread!

Abi :smile:
Travel Aware Student Brand Ambassador
(edited 4 months ago)

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