{"id":2759,"date":"2017-11-28T14:24:42","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T14:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/?p=2759"},"modified":"2022-04-13T15:42:23","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T15:42:23","slug":"pre-departure-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/pre-departure-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-departure: what you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">Bonjour everyone!<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">Today\u2019s blog topic is about all the things you need to know before going away abroad.<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">It\u2019s all good and well me telling you about all the things I\u2019ve been doing so far, but for people planning on working or studying abroad, one of the most important things to know is how to prepare beforehand to make the most of your experience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">I hope these 5 tips can make your experience even better and stress-free!<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\"># 1 \u2013 Don\u2019t panic!<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">I\u2019m normally quite a positive person and like to be organised but my experience starting at a French university did test my strength to remain positive. After two weeks of trying to choose my modules and make my timetable, (bearing in mind classes had already started) I began to panic and stress as I wasn\u2019t organised and hadn\u2019t started lessons. In spite of this, I realised that all Erasmus students were in the same boat, no-one knew what was going on and it was just a case of remaining positive and persevering until the problem was resolved.<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">\u201cDon\u2019t panic\u201d. It\u2019s easy to say and you will probably be fed-up with people who tell you this, especially when you think you have every reason to be panicking. However, I\u2019m here to tell you that you also have the right to choose to either do something about your situation or if it\u2019s out of your control, then simply wait until something can be done. It always works out in the end. Somehow.<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\"># 2 \u2013 Documents<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">A boring topic but something that can be crucial to help make your life easier. Before going, try to organise a folder with everything you could possibly need and this could avoid major problems when signing up to university, opening a bank account or securing accommodation. Here just a few things you could include:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-top: 0px;margin-top: 0px;padding-bottom: 0px;margin-bottom: 25px;padding-left: 20px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">\n<li>Copies of passports, birth certificates and other ID<\/li>\n<li>Passport sized photos (in France its common to provide one)<\/li>\n<li>Printed version of agreements, insurance and certificates<\/li>\n<li>Any other information or contacts you may need while abroad<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\"># 3 \u2013 Travel money card<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">If you\u2019re going abroad for only a short period of time then you may not want to go through the process of opening a bank account. There are lots of providers that offer travel money cards and you can use them just as you would a debit card allowing you to top-up your card and withdraw cash. Some of these providers are: Monzo, FairFX, Travelex and Post Office.<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\"># 4 \u2013 Record<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">This is the fun advice, so stay with me. It\u2019s so important to record your entire experience when you go on an amazing adventure such as a year abroad. Using a diary, blogging\/ vlogging, taking pictures or anything else you can think of will be a special way to keep memories and to be able to recall back to things you did that you may have even forgotten!<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\"># 5 \u2013 Have Fun<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">Whatever you do, just make the most of the incredible opportunity offered to you. Remember why you chose to do it in the first place and always keep an open mind, you can\u2019t go wrong!<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">\u201cTake only memories, leave only footprints.\u201d -Chief Seattle<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-align: justify;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff\">Kimberly<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 30.6px;margin: 0px 0px 25px;padding: 0px;color: #000000;font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'San Francisco', sans-serif;font-size: 18px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;text-indent: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;text-align: center\">Feel free to share any other tips for preparing to live abroad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bonjour everyone! Today\u2019s blog topic is about all the things you need to know before going away abroad. It\u2019s all good and well me telling you about all the things [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1433,"featured_media":2760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[268,269,270],"tags":[306,13],"class_list":["post-2759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-international-exchange","category-summer-programmes","tag-before-you-go","tag-predeparture"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4QQbz-Iv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2762,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/20-things-i-am-grateful-for-as-a-year-abroad-student-in-china\/","url_meta":{"origin":2759,"position":0},"title":"20 things I am grateful for as a year abroad student in China","author":"Nancyanne","date":"December 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Living in China is definitely challenging. However, there are many things I am super grateful for.\u00a0 I decided to make a video this time as I am a little bit too busy to write. Watch the video below and let me know what you think. 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I went to Canada and attended the University of Ottawa. What motivated you to do a year abroad? 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