Julia on Co-op

  Tomorrow, I'm hopping on a flight bright and early (5:15 AM to be exact!) back to where I co-oped last year in Seville, Spain! I'm so thrilled to go back - I'm especially looking forward to eating at all the food places I used to love and seeing my old coworkers. I've literally had dreams about croquetas the past few months! For me, one of the best things about co-oping abroad vs. studying abroad is the lack of homework and studying on the weekends, combined with Europe's generally lax vacation policies. This makes going on quick weekend trips around Europe super doable (especially due to cheap Ryanair flights!). However, with cheap flights come limited baggage, so I've mastered the art of packing everything I'll need into one small backpack. These are a handful of things I've learned throughout two co-ops abroad: 1. Wear your heels to the airport Sure, it’ll feel a little funny boarding your plane in your 5-inch clubby stilettos, but thes...

Ah, the good old apartment hunt. Something that can be pretty difficult even in Boston definitely gets a little trickier when you go abroad for co-op. Because it's risky to commit to an apartment you've found online without visiting it in person, I've found that most people who co-op abroad wait until they've moved to find an apartment. I think that this is the way to go so that you don't encounter any unpleasant surprises with your apartment or worse encounter an online scam. So, what are you going to do in the meantime between arriving at your destination and finding an apartment? My best advice is to book an Airbnb, not a hotel room. I'd say it's a safe bet to book it for 7-9 days after you land, preferably ending on a weekend day. This will give you enough time to go on the apartment hunt, and by having your stay land on a weekend, it'll be easier to move to your new apartment without missing work. My reasoning behind getting an Airbnb and ...

Probably my least favorite thing about moving abroad for co-op is the crazy amount of paperwork and stress that goes into attaining a visa/residence permit/whatever your country needs to allow you to stay there for a full six months. Dealing with long lines, deadlines, and endless paperwork are all a necessary part of the process, but chug along--it'll be worth it! What to do if you're traveling out of the country while your passport is being held for a visa application Last year when I was applying for a student visa for Spain, I had a big problem that caused me a lot of stress and "what the heck am I going to do?" type thoughts. To apply for a Spanish visa, you need to drop off your passport at your local consulate for about a month while they process your application. This can become a big problem if you're like me and have plans to travel outside of the country during this month. After a lengthy amount of time skimming blog posts and hard-to-understand g...

  This is the classic question that I get greeted with by nearly every person I meet in Slovakia. For some reason, they can’t fathom why I’d choose to come here from the U.S. “But you’re from New York! You can do anything there!” is a line that I hear a lot. The truth is (besides the fact that I'm from Connecticut, not New York), there’s not one straightforward answer as to how I ended up co-oping here in Slovakia. It’s sort of a combination of factors that ultimately got me here in the land of goat cheese dumplings. My great-grandparents are from here!     A big reason why I was drawn to Slovakia is the fact that ¼ of my heritage is from here (well, it was Czechoslovakia back in the day). My great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S. way back in the 1880s, so I thought it’d be cool to come back here and “get in touch with my roots”. It was a cool feeling the day I arrived knowing that I was the first person to step foot on Slovak ground in my family in ge...

1. ATTAINING A VISA IS QUITE THE PROCESS. Trying to make sense of what kind of visa to get, what to include in your application, and when you need it is really a headache. Things can get complicated if you are traveling out of the country while applying for your visa, but pro tip-y ou can get a second passport! It'll only last for two years, but it'll save your life in case you're a frequent traveler and need to be in a pinch while applying for a visa. Having lived in Spain for a long time.  2. FOMO IS A THING, BUT NOT AS BAD AS YOU 'D THINK. Sure, you'll get a little sad when you see all your friends posting about some super fun-looking event back at school. However, y ou'll be able to get your own wild, amazing, and memorable experiences, so you will not be too bummed when you can not make it to a fun outing back home. 3. YOU'RE GOING TO MISS FOOD FROM HOME  LIKE HELL. This one's a two-sided sword: during my 6 months in Seville an...