Erasmus: some tips and insights

Erasmus turns 30 this year and of these days one can easily say that Erasmus is a thing. In order to support activities in the fields of education, youth, training and sport, the EU has come to provide growing funds.

Not only it is a mind-blowing experience for students, who sooner or later return to their Erasmus destination, but it is also a plus on your curriculum. As of today, most of the universities around the world offer mobility programs. Each university has its own agreements abroad and scholarship offers. Students of universities which are located in the European Union benefit from a scholarship offered by the European Union itself. The amount of such scholarship though, depends very much on the university. Take an example. The University of Bologna offers scholarships to all its students according to the cost of living in the country of destination. Moreover, it allows its students to mobility all-year-long. If you are a student in a university of the European Union, you are basically guaranteed a scholarship.

In order to know where you can go, you need to check with your university. Your university will guide through the whole process and define what you have to do, where you can go, where you cannot go. But some aspects of the process of being an out-going student are up to you. For instance, accommodation. Finding accommodation abroad is not easy. Sometimes, there’s the language barrier (people do not speak English, you do not speak their language) other times there are other issues (too many people for few flats, huge prices etc…). The first step you can take is look for FB groups or pages with the following keywords: Erasmus followed by your city of destination (e.g. Madrid, Bruxelles, Paris, Roma, Milan etc) followed by the academic year (e.g. 2017/2018). So, if you go to Milan this year you can search for something like this: Erasmus Milan 2017/2018. These groups offer all kind of info: parties, flats, advices concerning flats. This kind of groups will be a great starting point. Furthermore, you can try to write a post on your FB and see if you have friends who can help you with the task.

You can also look for ESN. ESN is almost everywhere and they can definitely help you out with everything. ESN is particularly great when you do not know anybody as you have just arrived but willing to know everybody. Again, get in contact with them and join their events. ESN is generally there to support Erasmus students and it is run by other students. They throw sick parties but they also organize a lot of activities supposed to help you getting to know your new home.

As for help you may need with papers and info on courses at your host university, you need to find out who is in charge for that because there is always a person in charge for that. You need to always be properly informed on how it works in your new university: each country, each university has its own rules for you to pass your exams.

Erasmus is a wonderful experience and I would highly recommend you to give it a try.