Posing @ Grand Palace, Brussels, Belgium
One of many rewarding experiences that I obtained abroad is receiving an exchange semester to Belgium from my university in Poland. And if you have ever heard of Erasmus, congrats, because that’s how it started. Erasmus is the most popular exchange program among international students.
Want to study abroad? Making international connections? How about experiencing a new culture? Those are the reasons why I applied to this scholarship program. After all, why wouldn’t I? When you are funded to be one step closer to your dream anw.
The good news is, you can apply for it too just like me and other Erasmus awardee. Below are seven steps on how to ace an exchange program scholarship:
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1. Check your university’s partners
Make sure that your university has university partners for this exchange program, i.e. University of Warsaw has 456 university partners all over the world. These partners are important because you can only do your exchange if both of the unis are partners.
2. Check your grade
People tend to overlook this part and say how grades are not the A factor to succeed in your college life. Well, it’s not entirely true. Decent grades do pay off. Most of the cases you have to achieve certain scores in your semester to be eligible to apply for an exchange program.
3. Choose the university
After you find out where you are able to do your exchange program, the most important part comes in. And it is where you are going to study, not only where you can develop your field of study or be able to get a full scholarship for study. But also..
4. Choose the country
..where you might enjoy the season the most or are interested to explore the culture more. Choose a country that you can imagine living for 6-12 months and check everything, check the cost of living in that country, check the common accommodation for students there as well as public transportation’s availability.
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5. Full-fill the application
It is imho the easiest step of all because all you need is just to literally fill in the form and get an official statement from your uni that you are eligible for this program.
6. Set your individual course
The part that I liked the most, since you gotta choose what you want to learn. Maximize this opportunity because as you often hear how opportunity doesn’t come twice, it’s the same for this case. Choose the subjects that you are interested to learn, but are not available at your uni.
7. Take care of your health insurance
And please do it before departing. Having health insurance can save you from all those medical expenses since health is the most important thing in this world, and we know how expensive we can be.
In my opinion, Erasmus is one of the best ways to explore the academic life and culture in Europe. And it is not only limited for students, but also for academic teachers. I had fun and I’m sure you would as well.
@globustrotterin 
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