What Not to Pack When Studying Abroad

You’ve chosen the university, you’ve been accepted onto the course and your finances are in place, just about the only thing left to do is decide what you’ll be taking abroad with you. It’s easy to start over-thinking what you will need whilst you are away, after all you will be in a foreign country for a year, away from your usual comforts. In reality, many of these things are actually available to purchase once you arrive, or you may not even need to own some of the items whilst you are overseas. In this short article, we take a look at a few of the items that people often take with them when studying abroad, but in actual fact are not required. Let us know what you think after you’ve read through them in the comments below.

Toiletries and Make-Up

Your favourite shampoos, ointments and creams may provide comfort but be aware that these are often expensive items and are frequently packaged in glass, a material not known for it’s properties to withstand being knocked and bashed when in a suitcase. We’d recommend you pack enough toiletries for your first few weeks by which time you will be able to source toiletries at the university or surrounding area. Many make-up and toiletry brands are international so it is highly likely you will find exactly the same items in your destination country.

Food

When travelling abroad for long periods of time the prospect of months without your favourite foods can be daunting. Packing foodstuffs into your luggage is a bad idea as many countries will not allow you to bring these items into the country and you may find yourself in unnecessarily stressful conversations with the customs officials when you land.

As universities have become more international the towns and cities surrounding them have developed to better meet the needs of their new multi-national populations. The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of specialist shops which import a wide range of foodstuffs (and non-food items) from overseas, if however, there isn’t a shop in your University’s town/city you should be able to find an even broader selection available online.

Clothing

Our first tip is to get a good understanding of your chosen destination before deciding which clothes to take. Studying in many of the European and North American countries will require a varied wardrobe due to the changing temperatures and weather conditions. We would advise more than one coat/jacket is unnecessary as they will take up a lot of your available space, however this works in reverse – just because underwear is small you don’t need to get carried away and pack too much. You will be able to buy additional clothing at a reasonable price once you have arrived.

Books and DVDs

Although they provide longer lasting entertainment, books and DVDs still take up a large amount of room in your suitcase, especially those heavy textbooks. Instead, we suggest you avoid taking any books with you as your entire book and DVD collection can be loaded onto your laptop or tablet, which means you will only be limited by the size of the memory on your computer and not the weight limit of your luggage.

As far as textbooks go, unless you’ve been instructed otherwise by your university, we would advise you to wait until you get to the country before purchasing them. It may be that there are enough copies in the university library for you to borrow the books you need or the University bookshops may be offering the books at lower prices.

Irreplaceable Sentimental Items

We’re not suggesting you leave behind all the items that remind you of your family and home but we think it is useful to consider which items you take carefully. Sentimental items can provide a useful remedy to culture shock and homesickness but you should limit the number and value of those that you take with you.

Studying abroad involves a lot of travel to and from your destination country and if you are studying for longer than a year you may also be moving between different accommodation each year. This increases the chances of you losing something on the way so the simplest advice we can give is to encourage you to weigh up whether having a particular item is worth the risk of you losing it. Photos can be stored digitally and reprinted easily so we’d suggest you take a few of your favourites but family heirlooms and very expensive jewellery may be best left at home.

Whilst this is obviously a ‘worst case scenario’ way of looking at it, it is a good way to make sure you only pack the things that you need. Studying in another country, learning about a different culture and exploring a new language is exciting but an important part of this is getting out and about in your destination country and experiencing things like visiting libraries and shopping.

What are you packing when you study abroad? Do you disagree with us? Perhaps there is something else you are prepared to live without, or at least buy when you get there?

Related topics

• Advice and guidance for prospective international students