What is Erasmus?

The programme is named after the Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, known as an opponent of dogmatism, who… You believed it, ha? I don’t want to fill your minds with bullshit you don’t need to know unless you plan to write a thesis about it. Long story short: Erasmus is a university/college student exchange program (because it only works for a longer time when students want to go from A country to B country AND vice versa) within European countries where you can study or do your traineeship in a foreign country for 2-12 months* and most (if not all) universities offer you FREE language courses in the native language of the country you’re going to – and you will even get a buddy for yourself if you want, he/she is a student of the university you’re going to and will help you in the beginnings of your internship. Everybody has the chance of 12 months of Erasmus as soon as they get into college; there is no tuition fee for Erasmus-students and they even get paid for it! Sounds awesome, is it? But there are a few things you need to know before deciding to go abroad…

First, there are certain requirements you need to meet. But don’t worry, these aren’t some horrible, unrealistic and impossible requirements, you only need to have

·         good grades (not the best ones but if you don’t give a fuck about studying then why are you even at college? you are required to attend your lessons abroad even if you have the minimum amount of lessons, 3)

·         a relatively good English knowledge (or the language you will be using on the lessons / during work)

·         at least two finished semesters (meaning the first time you can try this you’ve already successfully survived the first year and have a clue about how higher education works, congratulations! school will definitely be different abroad)

·         and a teacher’s nomination from your faculty (they are usually glad to help you because they are impressed by your request; however, if they don’t know you they won’t be able to help because they will have nothing to write about you as a student and a person)

You will also have to write a Europass CV (make it here!) and a motivational letter but getting these don’t require more time than, let’s say, an hour if you really have no clue why you want to go abroad other than having fun and you need to create a white lie about “broadening your horizons”.

Another thing you need to know is that you also have to sign up for some lessons at home and go on exams (but don’t worry, you’ll have time for it) because Erasmus is only available for students who have an active semester and for that you need lessons and agreeing with the teachers that you’re there while you’re obviously not.

Next important piece of crap *cough* I mean *cough* information is the question of money. You will obviously get scholarship for studying abroad (traineeship pays better but there you need to literally WORK for it) and the amount of the money is based on the income of the people of the country, NOT your costs, meaning that where the salary is better the scholarship’s sum will be bigger. Just to give you an example, I’m going to the Czech Republic but I was hesitating between Ostrava and Katowice, Poland; the costs in the two countries as far as I know are almost the same but the Czech salary is better and they fall into the “middle-cost” category (Poland and Hungary are in the “low-cost” one) so I’ll get 50€ more here per month than I would get there. Important thing is that you need to sign the contract with your home university at least 5 weeks before leaving your country in order to get the money, in one sum. First you will feel being the king/queen of the midden but if you can’t handle money well you might end up being broke by the time you come home… I also heard that the amount of the scholarship for non-traineeship students isn’t even enough in countries such as Norway, Sweden or Finland and they often need to ask for money from home as to survive.

Then as you decide upon the university based on the money or your liking (for the study programme there is always a list you can choose from but you need to find a uni for your traineeship on your own), the question of accommodation emerges. You might already know it but not all countries believe in having dorms for students (e.g. Germany and Sweden) but where dorms exist the coordinator of the receiving institution will inform you about the available places. Finding an apartment is totally your own business and I don’t know much about it since I’m gonna live in dorms (again). The only thing I know is that dorms are a lot cheaper but you usually get one (or two, probably annoying, probably not) roommate(s) if you go alone and don’t have a friend to share your room with, while (if you pay enough) you can manage a roommate-free lifestyle in your own flat.

And last but not least there is the fact that you need to actually GET to your chosen college. Depending on the distance between your home and your next home, on your free time and most importantly on your wallet and on the amount of things you take with yourself you can either go with bus/train, plane, or car. Plane is best if you go further but the ~600 km between my hometown and the school is perfect by the bus/train combo or even by car, because I take the half of the wardrobe (and the quarter of the kitchen) with myself, if not more, and if I forget something at home I can’t just take the bus home (as I did from Pécs every second weekends).  That’s another thing that you need to find someone to take you there if you decide you want to go with more stuff than two enormous suitcases.

As for the very end, I’d like to tell you that if you decide to start the procedure (where you will need to deal with a lot of paperwork) you will be asked months before you go to give the exact dates of your arrival and leaving. You probably won’t even know what you will do next week but they ask you about your further plans… these dates are not fix, you can change them at any time if necessary but note that if there is more than 5 days difference between the actual dates and the ones on paper you’ll need to pay back the difference.

I hope I didn’t scare the shit out of anyone with this first article which isn’t only long but pretty much realistic, I don’t think it is impossible to meet the requirements because, even if people say I’m a phenomenon, not a person, and that my major is relatively easy, I could manage on getting far better grades than enough (strictly relying on my own knowledge) and still I had a lot of social life, and had enough sleep (in one sum, at the weekend).

For any further information about the programme visit this page or ask your faculty coordinator.

*2-12 months is valid for traineeship while 3-10 months works studying, at a time