{"id":37305,"date":"2019-02-04T07:25:26","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T12:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=37305"},"modified":"2019-02-04T07:25:26","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T12:25:26","slug":"how-i-prepared-for-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2019\/02\/04\/how-i-prepared-for-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Prepared For Exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>\r\nComing at you live from Gare de L\u2019est Station in Paris after just missing my train for a weekend trip, I don\u2019t feel as though I\u2019m prepared for exchange\u2014but is readiness<\/em> really the issue? After a 30-minute phone call rant from my mom about my tardiness, I\u2019d say it\u2019s about\u00a0responsibility.<\/em>\r\n\r\nI\u2019ve travelled across Europe, so I knew what to expect, but there will always be curve balls (such as staying up to late on a Thursday and sleeping through your 8 alarms). Although in all seriousness<\/em> (a subject which I\u2019ve had much experience with this morning), how does one prepare themselves for living abroad? Enough self deprecation, here\u2019s what I did before exchange.\"\"<\/a>\r\n\r\nFigure out a living situation .<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThis is probably the most tedious part of the process, but it differs substantially by city. My school doesn\u2019t provide dormitories because it\u2019s right in the middle of the city (specifically in an expensive area between Gucci and Louis Vuitton stores- I know, my wallet is already feeling lighter). Students live all over Paris, so I decided to sublet a room from a student who\u2019s roomates are going on exchange as well. I found her through a housing Facebook group, so I\u2019d say check social media and also your school\u2019s website for advice on lodging.\r\n\r\nReview the requirements of your school. <\/strong>\r\n\r\n\"\"<\/a>Going into exchange, I knew that I\u2019d chosen a challenging school that asks a lot of its students but also is the alma mater of all of France\u2019s past presidents. Titles aside, it\u2019s important to understand what you\u2019re getting yourself into. Some think exchange is just frolicking across Europe, but all my class are mandatory or one fails, so school comes first.\r\n\r\nDecide where you want to travel, but be realistic. <\/strong>\r\n\r\nSpeaking of frolicking,<\/em> I will definitely be engaging in this pastime, although as I\u2019ve most recently realized (as of an hour ago when I decided to buy another train ticket), travel is expensive and requires both planning and responsibility (<\/em>shout out to mom). \u00a0In the heat of orientation week I\u2019ve solidified few travels plans, but I think it\u2019s good to start small. I am marking places where I have friends or have been longing to visit and cross referencing times that don\u2019t work with my class schedule. At the end of the day, travelling is also sporadic, but budgeting and thought makes every exciting plan feasible.\"\"<\/a>\r\n\r\nAfter I ironed out these kinks in my study abroad program, I felt much more at ease with the transition. There will always be days where the nerves kick in, but that the thrill of spending a semester abroad.\r\n\r\n\u00c0 la prochaine \u2013Rachel","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\nComing at you live from Gare de L\u2019est Station in Paris after just missing my train for a weekend trip, I don\u2019t feel as though I\u2019m prepared for exchange\u2014but is readiness really the issue? After a 30-minute phone call rant…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “How I Prepared For Exchange”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “How I Prepared For Exchange”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":354,"featured_media":37338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,7204,7206,6669,59,62,65,2407,64,1,69,58],"tags":[2407,172,556,442],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/354"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37305"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37354,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37305\/revisions\/37354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}