Arriving in another country is always very exciting. Meeting new people, new culture, new environment. Though it takes some preparation. Before applying to study the marvelous city of your choice you have definitely encountered a lot of paperwork. Let’s make an overview of the Erasmus application marathon.

Fase 1. Getting accepted

If you are lucky, your university provided an information session on Erasmus. You take part and try  to absorb the offered info, but after a few minutes you lose your attention as you dream about all the exciting things an Erasmus experience has to offer. After telling everybody about the great adventure your are about to undertake, you start stressing out about how to get it arranged. Quickly you find out Erasmus acceptance requires a good motivation and a stainless education path. Getting accepted is not always as democratic as imagined. Not every university or faculty offers the information as transparently as it should. After you managed to fill in your application form, waiting for acceptance can seem to last for ages. But then, unexpectedly, your mailbox reports you are selected to set off to new horizons. The statement of the Bologna Declaration (Declaration of co-operation between the European Higher Education System), that free travel of students to abroad universities should be made as easy as possible, is, at the moment, more of an Utopia than reality. The declaration asks to have at least 10 % of the European student population on the move. To reach an objective like that, a bureaucratic simplification should be in place.

Fase 2. Preparing for departure

Right after you celebrated the splendid news that you are accepted, you contact your abroad university to get the worries out of your head about all the practical arrangements you have to make (like housing and medical support). Getting in touch with the staff of your new university is not always easy. While you get stressed out because of the unanswered emails, they are getting a fabulous tan at some Costa. Finely, the long expected answer arrives and you are informed that you are expected to stand firmly in your own shoes, meaning that you will have to deal with the practical arrangements yourself. After the headache of your goodbye party, one last hard moment occurs just before leaving. You realize that the suitcase you have packed is bigger than yourself and that some serious cutting in your luggage will be necessary.

Fase 3. Arrival

After taking a plain or bus you finally arrive at your new home. Some unlucky few come to the conclusion that their Erasmus university does not know of their existence. An Erasmus student, however, has to keep in mind one thing; namely that everything will be okay. The first thing to worry about is to subscribe and getting your visa and other documents done (in Leuven you should go to the International Office for that). Another priority is to make sure of having a roof above your head. Finding a student room is, according to a lot of Erasmus students, the hardest challenge they have to face. The big search leads you to places that go beyond your imagination. Unbearable smells and walls with cracks are all part of the  housing hunt. The search does not end with moving into your new four by three student room, you start thinking of the courses you can participate in. Again, it is not always easy to ascribe to as much classes as needed. The objectives of the Bologna Declaration, which aims at an increase of international students, cannot be realized without improving and expanding the facilities for international students and the offer of courses and study programs in English. |