Study Abroad Help Needed!

keerymom

<font color=navy>Secretly has the hots for Ryan Su
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Hi everyone! :)

My DD will be studying abroad in Scotland for the upcoming semester. This will be the first semester of her Sophomore year. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and looking for advice as far as cell phone service, banking, etc. Looking for any tidbits from those that have done it. Many thanks!!
 
My daughter will be abroad in Germany this fall.

She plans on using WhatsApp for calls and texts. Her phone has 2 Sim card slots so she may get a local card as well.

As for banking, we're getting her a VISA on my husband's account that doesn't have transaction fees. She'll also take her debit card. We may also get her a AAA travelex card. It's a prepaid card for international travel that can be reloaded.
 
My daughter studied in the UK for the 2013-14 school year.
She left her cell phone home and bought a pay as you go phone there. The phones and service are cheap in the UK. I think the phone and all the air time and data she used that entire school year came to less than $100.
She had a Visa card and a debit card. The debit card was on both our names, so I could transfer money on it from here as she needed it.
I got a few Pounds for her at the bank before going.
A couple of things to know, the PIN on your debit card can't be more than 4 digits. Europe just isn't set up for more than that.
And European chip readers can be finicky with U.S. chip cards. If they swiped the card, it worked. But my daughter found a lot of clerks in stores didn't even know how to swipe a card, even though their chip readers had the slot for swiping on them. They just don't do that often there.
 
My DD23 travels a lot, including trips in HS and a semester abroad (she did Ecuador). We used WhatsApp almost exclusively, plus a little Skyping, wherever she was. I second the no-fee credit card--interestingly, for me, it was my Target card. Added bonus, I don't use that one much, so I left my other ones at home. Look around/check with your bank--there's plenty of time to apply for and get a no-fee card (either in her name or jointly--for DD, we did jointly, so the bills came to me. Now that I think about it, they still do. Hmmm.)

I would also check on ATM fees. Obviously, the ATMs there dispense euros, but keep in mind, there's an exchange rate. So, she'll only be able to get out $300 worth of euro at one time. When I was in Venice in 2017, this meant I could get 250 euro.

She's probably best off buying a phone there to use. My DD got a phone from a previous exchange student, so she just had to buy the SIM card. You can also talk to your provider about getting service for however many months. I remember, we had to get it on all phones, which was pretty pricey (all 6 of us are on the same plan. Again, still with DD23. Hmmm.)

My DH and older DS (now 22) went to Scotland for a HS graduation gift. They found it to be very interesting and beautiful. I'm sure your DD will have a fabulous time. She's probably a lot less worried about the details than you are--I mean that in a good way.
 


Thank you all so very much for your responses!! Just so much to wrap our heads around and it will be here before we know it!!
 
If the phone she has now is a GSM phone with a removable SIM card, she can keep her current phone and just buy a UK prepaid sim to put in it. Very simple, just switch them out and you have a new number at cheap UK prices, but contacts, apps and all that stuff are preserved. SIMs are easy to buy all over the place in the UK, including at airports, but they do tend to cost a bit more there (though still cheap by US standards.)
 
A couple of things to know, the PIN on your debit card can't be more than 4 digits. Europe just isn't set up for more than that.

Mine is six. I live in Europe and it works just fine. On the other hand, none of my US based debit cards were ever able to have more than four digits.
 


My DD went to Amsterdam for her semester, she bought her Iphone with her and just got a sim card over there. One item that she found invaluable was a good backpack. We got her an Osprey from REI that the salesperson highly recommended. Turned out to be a great choice, she used that backpack through all her travelling. The other useful thing for her was a microfiber travel towel. Olay face wash sheets (dry), she used full size for face & body washing and cut them into smaller sizes for hand washing.
She had pre-bought the Eurorail pass before she left but ended up returning it after she got home. Airfare is inexpensive to fly from one place to another that I encouraged her to fly and save precious travel time.
 
My daughter spent a year studying at the University of Leeds in England. She used Santander as her bank. She was happy with it.

She hated the way she did cell service. My daughter signed up for T-Mobile once she was there. She had a one year plan. She was continually having to add money for minutes as the plan was very limited. She said if she had to do it again, she would buy a phone here and having it unlocked there. She would buy a cheap plan there. We tried Skype, but it didn't work well for us. We used What's Up and it saved us long distance charges, but it wasn't convenient. She'd have to call me and hang up and I'd have to call her back to avoid the charges. Of course, that was about six years ago. Options have improved!
 
My son study at university of St Andrews for 4 semesters, just finishing in May. Above posters have covered cell phones buy a phone or sim card, plans or pay as you go are relatively inexpensive, Amazon was great, switch to the UK site and you can purchase and send items, much less expensive then shipping from here. He opened bank account there, will be very easy if it is a town with large uni presence. (Fees are rare, balance can be very low.)
Some items better purchased there or thru Amazon there: hair dryer, bed linen, toiletries. Learn about electrical converters versus adapters, she will need a couple. May need to purchase new charging cord for computer or use a safe converter. Review her common list of otc medications or if she uses any rx ask for above usual amount.
 
My daughter was in London. I don't have much to add, but I do have a very low-stakes item for you to consider sending. When my daughter went, I sent her with a couple of reusable shopping bags. Our experience, after traveling overseas, is that most grocery stores charge for bags to take your items home in (and the bags they provide tend to be very flimsy). The other students from the U.S. who were rooming with her were amazed when they went shopping for groceries and she pulled out her bags to carry their food home in. Yeah, I'm sure you could shove groceries into a backpack or whatever, but actual shopping bags pack flat, taking up very little room in luggage, and may help prevent bruised bananas and squashed bread. Even if your child is on a meal plan, there will still likely be times where they want to go out and purchase snack foods or other items to have on hand.
 
She's an adult. She's choosing to be an international student. Shouldn't she be savvy enough to research these things herself then bounce the ideas and plans off you?
 

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