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Post-departure Tips for SMU
By Emma Phillips, Singapore Management University, Singapore. Since I have now been in Singapore for over six months, here are some of the things you should be aware of when you arrive.
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Back to reality and off to Singapore!
By Chloe Coradetti, Mechanical Engineering, The National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Here I am, realizing that it is real, it is happening… I am going to study abroad for an entire year at the National University of Singapore!! YEEEEESSS! My excitement is hardly containable, I keep telling everyone, with a big smile on my face “I’m going on an adventuuuuuure!”
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The Final Countdown (Pre-departure reflections)
By Emily Privett (Queen’s University, Canada) It’s weird how I’ve been planning for tomorrow for months and the flight has been booked since June yet I still don’t feel like it’s actually real. I mean, tomorrow I’m going to be getting onto a plane and fly thousands of miles away from my house, friends and family, to set up camp in Canada for the year..?! Although it is crazy to think that I will be living nearly 3,500 miles away from home, I cannot wait to starting building a life out there for a year; finding a house, meeting other students and even getting stuck into my academics (although on…
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A Rushed Pre-departure and First Impressions
By Rhiannon Jones (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) I suppose that the self-reflection blog usually comes at the end of the year long exchange, not as the first blog, but I feel like I’ve already learnt a lot about myself. Turns out I am actually quite unorganised and left an embarrassing amount of preparation for my study abroad until the last week. It’s been easy to put it off; I’ve had a full time job all summer meaning (in my head at least) I had an excuse to leave things like my immunization records until next week and the next until suddenly the day before I flew out I was collecting letters…
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Pre-departure reflections (getting ready for American football, cheerleading and Chipotle)
By Elizabeth Pace (Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) So it’s less than a week before I set off to the USA for my year abroad and I’m currently sat printing out every single email I have ever received from my partner university (as per my mum’s instructions) and trying to sum up my feelings about going.
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Pre-Sydney
By Bethan Rowsby (The University of Sydney, Australia) G’day! The posting of this blog is a little late as I arrived in Sydney about two weeks ago (!!!), but here’s what I thought and felt pre-departure! I had everything sorted; visa, health cover and my flight, everything except where I was going to live when I arrived in Sydney. Whilst this was a deliberate decision (I didn’t want to go into university accommodation due to the cost!), it was the thing I was most nervous about. I took my mind off the nerves and my looming departure date by travelling up and down the country, visiting family and friends and saying…
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Pre Departure
By Tom Collins (Australian National University, Canberra, Australia) I finished my Semester 1 exams in Manchester exactly 2 weeks before I flew to Australia. Do not underestimate how much there is to do in this time. I had already sorted out my visa, insurance, flights, and accommodation long before this stage. You feel like you are planning for the trip forever! You’ll need a Student Non-Award (Subclass 575) Visa. It came through really quickly (literally within half an hour mine was granted), but you will need to pay ($540). You also need Overseas Health Cover (OSHC). Shop around for this, mine cost $192 for 6 months cover. The obvious task…
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The Final Countdown
By Katie Lewin (Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada) After all the applications, research and planning for what seems like the past year, I’m leaving for Canada on Monday! I feel slightly mentally unprepared but otherwise I have pretty much everything sorted from accommodation to my timetable. The only thing I’m dreading is saying goodbye to my friends and family, although it’s not too bad as I’m back at Christmas. As this is the first year Simon Fraser University has been available to the University of Manchester for exchange, there hasn’t been any previous Manchester students I could get advice from. However SFU have a Buddy Program where they partner…
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Maryland Bound
By Madeleine Taylor (University of Maryland, USA) The prospect of flying nine hours across ‘the pond’ for eight months is pretty daunting. There will be so much to adjust to and appreciate, and so little time to do so. Not seeing my family for that long is going to be difficult, but I am excited to strike out on my own and throw myself into life at the University of Maryland. After all, my well known motto is: You are a strong, independent woman. And I plan to fully realise this alter-ego on my trip (we’ll see how that goes). Packing was a struggle; how could I possibly fit eight…
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Nobody said it was easy, nobody said it would be so hard.
By Isobel Cecil (University of California, San Diego, USA). (I wrote this a month ago, and thought I’d posted it a month ago to. I’ve only just realised that my technical capabilities have failed me again and that it didn’t post. Hey, just another setback!) Here I am just a few days away from my long flight to California, and I’m finding it very hard to describe how I feel. Everybody keeps asking me: “Are you excited??!?!?” , to acquaintances I enthusiastically reply “Yeah! 100%! Woohoo!” and make some lighthearted joke about tanning/Mexican food/ surfer boys. However to those closer to me I tell the truth; I don’t have any…
A study abroad journal by students, for students.
