You are currently browsing the daily archive for September 18th, 2007.
For an expedition of this grandeur (four and a half months studying in the University of Alicante) packing is key. Now I must note from the start that every airline has different weight allowances for your baggage, which is a pain when it comes to choosing who to fly with. BA allows 23kg whereas Easyjet only 20kg, then there is scummy Ryan-Air with their overtly generous offer of 15kg. I know that the prospect of packing months of your life into a bag sounds daunting but it isn’t actually too tricky. For Bath we all had Daddy’s car to take all our stuff up, or a train, but the truth is that most of the stuff you needed/wanted at Bath you won’t on the year abroad. All I took, into my 20kg Easyjet bag, was clothes, toiletries and some bits and bobs. In my hand luggage, which was the maximum size legally allowed (I advise this so try and cram in as much as you can), I had plugs, cables (with corresponding technologies), a laptop, books (even had room for Gordon Ramsey’s miraculous “Fast Food”) and some admin papers. In a nutshell, take the largest bags you can legally, then fill them, but don’t worry too much about not having every vestment you think you may need.
A quick note on visas for those Russian students among thee:
1. Listen intently and follow what Anne and Howard tell you in the meetings before hand. You’ll be tempted to smile and nod and think, ‘yup, I’ll do that at some point’, then crunch time comes along slyly and you are thinking ‘oh pants! This is really quite confusing, what do I do?!’ and it is. There is a lot to do, so make a checklist for things YOU need to do.
2. Check out your local sexual health clinic. Always a fun trip with the mother, sat there surrounded by 14yr old chavs with babies, nervous looking men, bored looking women, just longing to be called to chat about setting up an HIV test. This will be carried out either in the summer holidays (if you are first semester in Russia) or at Christmas or between the two semesters (if you are second semester in Russia).
3. Most importantly, if you are confused, and you will be confused (Russians, Lord help me I love them to bits but their bureaucracy is nuts), you must contact Anne or Howard. They know Everything and won’t think a second before helping you out. Sod the Ghostbusters! Who you gonna call? The Whites!
Back to Spain. Two things I’d like to point out, which were among the many things I smiled and nodded at during the meetings and that wafted in one ear and out the other, are mobile phones and bank accounts. Boring I know…smile and nod.
a) Mobiles – Think carefully whether you want to get a foreign phone. I advise for Spain just taking your handset and buying a cheap simcard from a phone shop for somewhere around €20 – give or take.
b) Bank accounts – Now I right royally left this to the last minute, two days before leaving for Alicante. Go to Nationwide early in the summer holidays and get yourself a little Flex account. It gives free withdrawals internationally. I, being a prat, have to now wait a week and a bit for my card to be sent to me.
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