Exchange is one of the most exciting part of university life, and if all things were normal, a bunch of us would be prepping for exchange (or have left for exchange), but with the whole COVID-19 situation, plans have been scrapped. Nonetheless, for future batches, here are the top 10 things to consider before going for exchange!
1. Finances
You can't head off for an adventure without money, and with you being miles away from home, finances is definitely at the top of the list. For starters, a minimum amount of $15K would be a safe sum for a 6-months exchange programme, though the amount really depends on the region you go to (I spent around $14-15K for my exchange to Norway).
Here are some spending components that I considered while planning my finances:
Rent for accommodation + deposit
VISA matters
Flight tickets (to-and-from Norway)
Transportation, and whether there's any student transport pass
Personal Travels
Food
Groceries
Snacks/Drinks
Laundry
Other necessities (i.e. lotion, shampoo)
To get a gauge of cost of living, I used numbeo to estimate how much the above would cost. I planned my finances on an excel sheet prior to departure. But to be really honest, I had to make constant adjustments to the excel sheet as reality was different from expectations, and it took me some time to figure out how to manage my finances there. I ended up using an app, Money Manager (the red icon one), to track my daily expenditure and to ensure that I was spending within my limits.
Another part of finances would be bursaries, loans, and scholarships - all of which can help alleviate the cost. For NUS students, you can head to the Global Relations Office website for more information. Do note that for the NASA bursaries, you would need to have applied for financial assistance for that AY (academic year) in order to qualify for the bursary.
2. Accommodation
Housing is next on this list, because no one wants to be homeless when you reach a foreign place! I had the following considerations when I chose my accommodation in Oslo:
What is the distance from the campus?
Rental price per month
What type of room would I like? With private bathroom? Shared bathroom? Studio-style?
Different room types come with different prices, and at the end of the day, it's your call on what you value in a place you would call home for your 6-months there. I eventually opted for a student village nearer to school (though honestly, the further accommodation was super near a beautiful lake and that was highly tempting), choosing a furnished single room, with a shared bathroom and kitchen with 3 others. The student village was one metro station away from school, served by two metro lines (Oslo has 5!), and is actually walkable from the main campus as well!
3. VISA/Residence permit pass and Passport matters
No one wants to be stranded abroad, so documentations are very important. As you'll be there for at least 6 months, a normal visitor VISA does not hold for most countries. Check online if your destination country requires a VISA/Residence permit pass, the lead time for application, and where you should apply for it. Most of the time, application would be via a local embassy or VISA application centre.
For those heading to the Scandinavian countries, you can head to VFS Global for information on how to apply for a Residence Permit. The entire process will take some time, so once you've received an offer from your university, completed the application to your host university, and confirmed your exchange, you can start on your application. My friend and I applied for the permit earlier as we were afraid of the processing time, so we managed to get the documentations settled here before we headed to Norway. Fret not if you're unable to settle all documentations in Singapore though, just ensure that you have started applying for the Residence Permit (and get the verification that you have applied) and you can continue the process when you reach your destination.
If you're unsure about VISA/Residence Permit, reach out to seniors or even the faculty to ask about these, and high chances are that there will be someone who's more than willing to help!
Please ensure that your passport is valid - most countries require at least a 6-months validity from date of entry. For example, if you're heading for exchange in January 2021, ensure that your passport's expiry date is after July 2021. If you need to change your passport, go to ICA and book an appointment to do so!
4. Flights + Insurance
Flights will be next on your list of pre-exchange preparations, and you might be wondering, where can I get affordable flights? One place I can recommend is STA Travels (located on NUS, NTU & SMU campuses as well) as they cater to students, especially those heading on an overseas adventure! STA Travels helps students to get extra baggage weight for their flight - I got 40kg each for my flights to-and-from Norway! They also help you to check for the different flight prices and timings, and all you need to let them know is essentially where you're flying to, and which time period(s) you are looking at for both departure and return. Everything will be settled for you!
Another question you might have: is it better to book a one-way or two-way flight ticket? Price-wise, I don't have much comments, but I booked a two-way flight ticket because it was more convenient for my friend and I. It might also be cheaper to book a two-way flight, depending on your return date to Singapore (my planned return date was June, and it is generally the peak tourist season, which may mean flight tickets are generally more expensive). If you're unsure of when you would like to fly home or your post-semester plans, I would suggest booking a one-way ticket to give yourself more flexibility! Once you have planned out the remaining of your travel itinerary, you can then book your return flight. This way, you can "maximise" your time spent overseas.
Insurance-wise, most schools do provide travel insurance for exchange programmes already. Do note that the insurance mostly covers school-related accidents/trips, and not personal, so you might want to consider getting additional travel insurance to cover your personal travels while on exchange. You can check out more information about student insurance in NUS/NTU/SMU.
Just in case, I bought an additional personal travel insurance to cover any unexpected accidents, flight delays etc. My friend and I looked around for quite a few different travel insurance, before settling for FWD Travel Insurance. The main reasons we opted for this were: 1) It's affordable; 2) The validity period is one-year, so it can cover any other travel trips we would have within the year as well; 3) The claim process is all digital, which would make it easy for us to make any claims if needed, from the convenience of whichever country we are in. Do still look around for which travel insurance will best suit your needs!
5. Country/Region of Exchange
This matters to some people - some friends/juniors that I've spoken to mention that they prefer English-speaking countries due to communication, so this is really a personal choice! Popular exchange destinations include: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Korea etc., so if you would like to have higher chances of securing a spot, you can always opt for less popular destinations 😉 Sometimes the least expected destination actually brings you the most enjoyable and surprising experience!
Communication is still key - it'll be good to learn some simple words and phrases of their native language! I didn't manage to learn Norwegian before I left for exchange, and this was definitely one of my regrets - though most Norwegians actually speak fluent English so I didn't really had much issues! Besides, it never hurts to know one more language!
6. Courses offered at Host University
Ultimately, while exchange is mostly about the fun, you're still there to learn (and clear course credits), so it's important for the host university to have subjects that you can take for a successful module mapping. Head over to their website and search for their academics section to find out the modules on offer! If you're heading to a non-English speaking country, do check for the medium of instruction. Spend some time to sit down and sieve out what modules can be taken, and whether the modules can be mapped back. If you're from FASS like me, module mapping isn't that difficult as the faculty is pretty much flexible with the modules you can map back (Just be careful of the 4K modules credit limit👍🏼)!
Asking for seniors' advice is also a good way to go for module mapping - they've walked the same path before, and can better offer advice suited for your course of study. Some faculties also provide module mapping samples, so do watch out for those as well!
7. Vaccinations and Medicine
Vaccinations are important, so check out what vaccines you need to get before heading over to your host country! A quick google will tell you the information you need, or you can refer to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the suggested vaccines for each destination. Ensure that you do get the appropriate entry vaccines that your host country would require.
As a general rule of thumb, I would definitely advise you to get at least a flu shot to give your immune system the extra boost it needs, especially if you're heading to a winter country for the first time. Other more common vaccinations would include Hepatitis A and/or Hepatitis B (of which all newborns in Singapore have to get the Hepatitis B shot). You could also just head to the doctors to get advise on what additional travel vaccines you should get!
As for medication, a tip is to pack a small emergency medicine bag to bring overseas with you, and include a variety of different medicine for fever, flu, cough, stomach ache etc., just to be extra safe! Pack some band-aids and vitamins too, you honestly would never know when you may need it!
8. Bank Matters
With 6 months worth of money to handle, settling your bank matters wayyyyy in advance is advisable, so as to give yourself more time to get all the necessary documentations and cards. Instead of multi-currency cards offered by local banks, I would recommend other multi-currency travel cards such as YouTrip, or TransferWise. These cards offer a better exchange rate (pretty close to the live exchange rates that you're seeing on Google), with $0 transaction fee! You can use these cards to withdraw money overseas, or even transfer other currencies to another party (for TransferWise only).
I personally used YouTrip and DBS Multi-currency card (as a back-up) for my exchange! Exchange rate wise, YouTrip definitely offered me a better rate, and the convenience was amazing. YouTrip was my go-to card on exchange and I used it for almost everything. YouTrip is based on a wallet system (similar to PayLah!), so I just topped up the card anytime I need - usually at the start of the month and before any travels, or when it runs out of money! The application process is super simple - just head over to YouTrip to sign up for a card (it's free), and they will mail the card to your house! I got mine within 2 weeks, and the set-up process is superrrrr easy as well! No fuss!
9. Type of clothes to bring
6 months is a long time, and unlike sunny Singapore, you'll definitely experience at least two different seasons, so be prepped for that! The main season to watch out for would be winter - living in Singapore deprives us of the winter experience, and the cold up north might not always be what we expect! When I first landed in Norway, I was shocked by how cold it was - my friend and I were already layered up, but the wind was a whole different story.
Tips for winter:
Invest in different types of heat packs - they will be your life saver in one way or another. I brought over hand warmers, leg warmers, and body warmers, and in the peak of winter, those helped a great deal.
Get good inner heat-tech wear - layering up is always one option, but layering smart is the way to go. You don't want to look like a dumpling while still freezing your ass off. For those heading to Northern Europe or even the States or Canada, I would recommend getting wool-based heat-tech! As much as Uniqlo is everyone's to-go-to brand, I personally didn't feel that their heat-tech was as suited for Norwegian winter as compared to other brands!
Bring along: gloves (water-proof ones will be good, but if not, any that can keep your hands warm), beanie, scarf, mask (optional)
As you pack your luggage, keep a look out for winter fairs or winter sales, where you can stock up your winter essentials at a bargain!
10. Necessities to pack
a) Local ready-to-eat food! 6 months away from home is quite a long time, and it's never too much to pack some local delights and your favourite snacks into your luggage! You can just head to any supermarket and grab some of those sauce packs! If you're lucky enough to be going on exchange with friends, you can split the local food stash between you guys! My friend and I each brought over different types of sauces (laksa, chicken rice, bak kut teh etc.), which allowed us to have more variety while not having to pack too many types into your own luggage. (P.S. just don't go tooooo crazy with the food yeah, you still need space to hold all your other things!)
b) Different types of clothes, especially if you will be experiencing more than one season! For me, I forgot about the multiple seasons bit, and did not end up bringing much summer clothes. So by the time it hit end-April/early-May, I had to go around sourcing for more clothes (but hey, I got new clothes, so I ain't complaining - except the trouble of fitting them all back into the luggage 😂). By some stroke of luck, I had a friend heading to Europe for her short medical exchange, and she brought some of my summer clothes over for me, so yay! Oh, but no worries about clothes, you can definitely buy more there, and if you're in luck, you might be able to get clothes at a cheaper price (I got a new coat for SGD23 because they started to clear the winter clothes stock)!
c) School/Writing necessities - laptop, charger, some pen and a notebook if you would like! Make sure you don't miss out on any items that may make your learning experience incomplete. Oh, and I would recommend you bringing a journal of sorts too, just to jot down your day-to-day feelings and thoughts, and be able to look back at it in the future!
Last but not the least, go with an open mind! And enjoy the experiences you'll gain, the fun you'll have, and the ups and downs, because till today, exchange is still a period I hold close to my heart!
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Valerie is a Sociology major from National University of Singapore. She loves baking, photography, and scenic walks/hikes. She has a photography account on Instagram (@travalogues) where she dumps all her exchange travel photos.
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