Time to think about finances

ERASMUS is an amazing and unfortunately expensive experience. So before applying think whether you can afford it, then after applying start thinking about sources of internships. What is certain? For sure you will be supplied with the money from your university, which are desinged for Erasmus Students. The amount of money varies depending on where you are going. In general there are 3 groups of countries: western countries (the most expensive), central European (less expensive) and east part (inexpensive, according to this division). The sum of money depends on the university.

Apart from this, try also:

- The Dean of the Faculty - there can be special grant-in aid

- The Rector of the University - there can be special grant-in aid

- The Marshal of the Voivodeship - there can be special internship program for students going abroad or for high marks.

In my case, all of those attempts were successful.

You can also try different places, like special internship programs, but sometimes it requires to fulfil particular expectations and conditions, e.g. living in small towns or studying specific faculty.

The most important thing in this matter is to be successful, because you will need money on Erasmus Program and you will need a lot of money !!!

Good luck !!!

Interview

Few days after submitting application form, there was a time for interview. We were informed about the time few days before, but had is changed anything? Nope, because you can't prepare for this interview. It is actually about nothing and it is partialy in foreign language (the one which you will be using at the university). You can't prepare to speak about nothing and if you don't know the language, you won't learn it in few days. The only thing to do is to prepare a good argumentation why do you want to go THERE.

In front of the door we were discussing only two things: average marks and the number of people who want to go to the same place.

In the end we were congratulated and accepted for the exchange. Not everyone was accepted for the place they wanted to go, e.g. ME. As I already said fortunately because of double clash, I had to change my decision and make up my mind for Salford.

It's not Prima Aprilis, it's the application time

Deadline for the application for Erasmus Program is as always on April. This time it is 11th of April.

What should such an application contain?

• your personal data
• formal statement features: date, to whom, what is it about, signature
• motivation: why do you want to?
• very important: where? 
• evidence of your language skills
• optional choice of places, just in case there won't be enough place for you at your first choice

An example of my application can be found in "Application" bookmark (in polish). And as you can see my first choice was not Salford at all. It was Roskilde, then the Prague. A blessing in disguise I was not approved to any of my first choices. You'll ask: why? It is my fourth year of studying and it is not so easy to keep enough high marks to win with younger students from lower levels.