Hi! My name is Giovanna, I’m 21 years old, and I just moved to Hamburg for Erasmus. This is a series where I will walk you through my life as a student in a foreign country. If you want to come along, feel free to join! If you haven’t seen the first part of the series, check it out here.
First things first, do your research.
If you are an Erasmus student you will have been given a form with all the universities that have a partnership with your current university and you got the choice to rank your preferences of where you want to go. When doing this, please consider how cool a place is and how good a university is, but also take things into consideration things like how far it is from your home country, if you would like to have your family or friends visit, how expensive the city is, and the weather. Do I regret moving to Hamburg for the winter months? Not really, I got used to the idea that it reaches -13° at one point, and it could be worse. Plus I like the snow.
Second is Packing
Based on the weather and the kind of accommodation you decided on you will have to pack. I know it’s six months, but I assure you that you need half the stuff you have decided to bring. Why? Because 1) we always end up wearing the same stuff and 2) you will probably live in one of the tiniest rooms ever known to man, so there won’t be enough space for you to move your entire wardrobe. Please remember to bring your linens and a hairdryer. People seem to forget that, and yes, I am people. If you were assigned a dorm room, (I was lucky enough to be) contact them and ask them what kind of facilities are on campus along with some pictures of the rooms themselves. This can give you much more information than the website.
The Administrative Stuff
The most important thing to sort out is health insurance. If you are lucky enough to be in and from the European Union, you might need to have your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) approved by your incoming university. What happened with me is that my receiving uni asked us to send a scanned copy of our EHIC to a list of German health insurance providers to check and they would clear you with the university. My home university has an insurance plan for their students, so we were also covered from that side. If you live outside of the EU, you will be asked to get in touch with a German health insurance provider to obtain coverage for the time of your stay. In order to attend university they need you to provide health insurance proof, so just be extra careful on that point.
Moving on to the residence permit. Your university will need to know where you are living during your stay. This is called an Anmeldung in Germany. The certificate is provided to you by your landlord or your house manager if you are in a dorm. If you are coming to Germany will need to book an appointment with registration offices, to declare your place of residence for the following months.
Another important matter is the learning agreement (LA). An LA is a form that has to be filled with the exams you are going to take abroad in exchange for the ones you should have taken in your home university. This document has to be approved by your home university, then the same form has to be filled and approved by the receiving university. In my case, even if my learning agreement has been approved by my home university I still have to register for the courses in my receiving one, so once I am accepted I can fill in the learning agreement itself.
Finally, the Erasmus+ certificate is a document co-signed by your home and receiving university stating the beginning and the end of your Erasmus. If you were awarded any EU funds, you will need this to gain access to them. In my case, I had to send both this document signed and my boarding pass.
I know all of this can seem overwhelming but don’t worry! During this series, I will talk more in depth about all the steps, and remember, you are not alone. There are so many students in your shoes. Contact a group chat of students at your same university for clarification, they will be a rock to anchor while you are abroad. Most importantly, I would also suggest getting in touch with people from your university who went to the same university abroad, they are the best people to gain more insight into the whole process.