However while academic holidays are full of doing nothing with a side of piss all (which I take to a whole new level) I urge both of you regular readers to take care if you do decide to vacate your host country, be it to make sure your family hasn't forgotten what you look like or to see what wonders are on offer further afield. The reason you should take care? Well while academics may be on hold administration certainly is not.
The first thing to beware of? Banking.
Learn from my mistakes and take special note of your foreign bank balance particularly around rent-payment time. As all of my correspondence with the bank in through a physical medium I completely missed out on the fact that my rent transaction hadn't in fact been completed, (yes it was late anyway but that's beside the point) resulting in a panicked Tuesday afternoon and 'urgent transaction handling charges' otherwise known as a kick in the teeth.
Though a major pain in the neck, banking charges can be dealt with relatively painlessly. Unfortunately not everything can be solved so easily. My advice: double and triple check that you are on the mailing list for EVERY class you're taking. It's pretty easy to slip through the cracks resulting in not receiving very important e-mails. Such as e-mails telling you the sign up dates for a repeat exam and only finding out about said e-mail the day after sign up has closed. The cost? Avery slim possibility of 4 credits.
So heed my warnings dear readers and beware of admin mistakes coming back to bite you in the arse.
Oh and if you're wondering I make my triumphant return to Konstanz in less than a week so expect late, less than informative updates on a slightly more regular basis and of course expect all of the shenanigans.
The first thing to beware of? Banking.
Learn from my mistakes and take special note of your foreign bank balance particularly around rent-payment time. As all of my correspondence with the bank in through a physical medium I completely missed out on the fact that my rent transaction hadn't in fact been completed, (yes it was late anyway but that's beside the point) resulting in a panicked Tuesday afternoon and 'urgent transaction handling charges' otherwise known as a kick in the teeth.
Though a major pain in the neck, banking charges can be dealt with relatively painlessly. Unfortunately not everything can be solved so easily. My advice: double and triple check that you are on the mailing list for EVERY class you're taking. It's pretty easy to slip through the cracks resulting in not receiving very important e-mails. Such as e-mails telling you the sign up dates for a repeat exam and only finding out about said e-mail the day after sign up has closed. The cost? A
So heed my warnings dear readers and beware of admin mistakes coming back to bite you in the arse.
Oh and if you're wondering I make my triumphant return to Konstanz in less than a week so expect late, less than informative updates on a slightly more regular basis and of course expect all of the shenanigans.
No comments:
Post a Comment