The semester is almost at its end and this means for me and for some of you as well that it is almost time to go home. I feel a on one hand sad that it is coming to its end because I met some really cool people over here and had a great time, on the other hand I am happy to go home and see my family again. Going back home means that you need to make arrangements for your trip home and with the corona situation it will be more challenging to go home.
Make a to-do list
A good start is to make a list of things you need to arrange
before you go home. I did it for myself too. It is a different per
person what you need to arrange but I do think that
everyone now needs to book a flight or train trip home and
needs to do a corona test. I added on my list some other
things which are important for when I am back like the home
quarantine and the registration at my parent’s address because of the elections in Netherlands that are coming.
Booking a flight
The most logical arrangement is of course booking a flight back home. Now it can be a little hard because of cancellations. I saw in some of the Erasmus group apps that people who were arranging their trips to Poland had to deal with cancelled flights. When I was booking my flight, I was and still am afraid that it would be cancelled. I will recommend you to check if your company gives you your money back or a voucher when the flight will be cancelled. I paid thirty euros more to get my money
back when it will be cancelled because I do not fly that often, so I want to be sure that I get a refund in case of cancellation. It sounds like a lot of money, but I think it is worth it.
Corona test
Oh yes, I think almost all of us need to hand in a (negative) corona test when we want to enter our home countries. Please check what kind of test and how many you need. How many? You may ask. Yes, how many because in Netherlands you need two corona tests. I need a PCR-test and an antigen quick test to be able to enter the Netherlands. I think Netherlands is the only country with such weird requirements but check your local institutions to be sure.
Next to these tests, I need to go in home quarantine as well. I think all of us need to. I wanted to know if I could stay with my parents in one room. So, I called the national healthcare organisation but surprise, surprise they could not give me an answer. I had to call the ministry of foreign affairs.
Every time I called them; I got a recording that was saying it was busy. I hang up the phone and tried it again later. The fifth time I called I decided not to hang up but to wait until there was someone toanswer the phone. After ten seconds they picked up the phone. I asked about it and I can stay with my parents in one room at a distance. It can cause a lot of frustration when you try to contact your government but do not give up one way or the other you will get an answer.
Documents
If you thought you already finished with documents when you arranged your Erasmus, you might be wrong. Some universities want a confirmation of stay.
My university only needs the learning agreement after mobility or a transcript of records. To get this I need to fill-out some questions at my receiving university. It is important to give some attention to
that otherwise you will not get your credits.
Saying goodbye
Now I will say nothing more about official things. They are important but it is also important to say goodbye to the people you met during your time in Poland. I bought some small gifts for the people I met during my time here. I think I bought mostly cups for them. I do not know why; I think I did not have much inspiration. I think it is nice to give something, so people will think back about the memories you made together. I think it is nice to have a small and cosy goodbye party with your friends or a goodbye walk.
I had a great time here in Warsaw, corona changed the things I expected but I will not see this as a big problem. I met nice people and did some nice activities, but all good things come to an end. I hope you had a great time too. Now the time has come to go back home and do some important things. I wish you good luck doing this, and I hope you will have a great adventure abroad when corona is over.
