Packing your entire life in a suitcase and moving to a new country is as exciting as it sounds. But it sure accompanies a good share of introspection and planning, especially when your wallet and bank accounts are one of the crucial side characters in the picture.
Golden Draft presents to you the 5 things that you should consider before making that life changing leap.
- A COUNTRY YOU CAN COUNT ON
Every country comes with it’s unique culture and traditions that you need to familiarize yourself with, before sealing the deal. Its as interesting as making a new friend – they’re a bundle of joy with a few characteristics out of sync with your way of life but you accept them in their entirety. Studying the country’s climate fluctuations and weather extremes also hold an important role in determining your compatibility with it. Talking to people who’ve lived in your countries of interest will help you in gaining adequate knowledge about the general acceptance that prevails with respect to outsiders, culture-specific taboos and communication barriers.
- GET YOUR PAPERWORK IN ORDER
From compiling your academic certificates to getting your visa and passport in place, it’s a process that should be initiated as early as possible. There are certain country-specific procedures that can take anywhere between 6-12 months, hence proper research is required to ensure that everything goes at the desired pace. Most universities provide a standard template that includes all the necessary documents and admission related formalities that need to be fulfilled beforehand. Staying up to date with the college’s latest guidelines comes in handy and prevents last minute urge to run away from everything and live in the hills.
- BUDGETING
Starting a new life comes with it’s own expenses and even though it can get a little heavy on your pockets, you need to choose a path that does not create a massive dent in your credit score. Apart from your college fees and accommodation, there are a bunch of other things that tend to go underestimated while calculating our expected monthly budget. A big chunk of your expenditure will be on food, travelling, procuring the necessary study material, internet and phone calling plans. Finding the cheapest alternatives to all these things will be a tedious task but in the long term will keep your bank accounts healthy and debt free.
- SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES
More often than not, our apprehension with respect to studying overseas has something to do with the sky high costs of moving abroad in addition to the international student fees. The university you intend to apply for as well the related country often host plenty of scholarship opportunities for students applying from abroad and should not be taken lightly as they can lift a massive boulder off of your finances.
- BEING OPEN TO NEW EXPERIENCES
No matter which country you end up finalizing, you will face unforeseen events that’ll require you to unleash your coping mechanisms. Homesickness will show up at most of your parties as an uninvited guest, but with some time and motivational self-talk you’ll soon learn how to ignore it even if it’s staring right at you from the other side of the room.
