important technology used when studying abroad

4
Important Technology to Use While Studying Abroad Whatsapp – The most essential app to have for your smart phone while studying abroad. Just like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp allows you to text message friends and family for free if there are open wifi networks available. You can also make free calls overseas if you’re trying to talk to family members and don’t want to pay international calling fees. I found this app extremely helpful because all of my international friends in Spain used this app over Facebook Messenger. Having a cell phone plan abroad usually results in using a Nokia brick phone, so with Whatsapp I was able to continue using my American cell phone the majority of the time to get ahold of my international friends and host mom. Free wifi networks were available in plenty of locations in downtown Alicante, Spain as well as on campus allowing me to use Whatsapp on a daily basis. Google Translate – If you’re going anywhere except the UK, Australia or New Zealand, you absolutely need a translating tool. Google Translate has an app, or you can search “translate” on your cell phone’s Google search bar and it’s the first result that pops up. There are 90 different languages available on Translate, so most likely you will be able to translate the common language of whatever country you’re in. This app was my sidekick during my semester in Spain, especially during the first two months. I lived with a host mom that only spoke in

Upload: austin-stowe

Post on 15-Apr-2017

67 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Important Technology used when studying abroad

Important Technology to Use While Studying AbroadWhatsapp – The most essential app to have for your smart phone while studying abroad. Just like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp allows you to text message friends and family for free if there are open wifi networks available. You can also make free calls overseas if you’re trying to talk to family members and don’t want to pay international calling fees. I found this app extremely helpful because all of my international friends in Spain used this app over Facebook Messenger. Having a cell phone plan abroad usually results in using a Nokia brick phone, so with Whatsapp I was able to continue using my American cell phone the majority of the time to get ahold of my international friends and host mom. Free wifi networks were available in plenty of locations in downtown Alicante, Spain as well as on campus allowing me to use Whatsapp on a daily basis.

Google Translate – If you’re going anywhere except the UK, Australia or New Zealand, you absolutely need a translating tool. Google Translate has an app, or you can search “translate” on your cell phone’s Google search bar and it’s the first result that pops up. There are 90 different languages available on Translate, so most likely you will be able to translate the common language of whatever country you’re in. This app was my sidekick during my semester in Spain, especially during the first two months. I lived with a host mom that only spoke in Spanish and my Spanish speaking skills were subpar at the beginning of the semester. Google Translate allowed me to convert what I wanted to say to Spanish if I didn’t know the word so I was able to still have lunch and dinner conversation with my host mom. Please download this app and don’t expect to speak English the entire time while abroad. There may be a situation that arises where English is not an option.

RyanAir/Vueling Apps – If you’re studying abroad in Europe and are planning to travel to a few different countries, the RyanAir and Vueling apps will help a lot with air travel. RyanAir and Vueling are known for having the cheapest flights in Europe, with prices being as low as 75 euro from round-trip from France to Greece or 80 euro from Spain to Germany if planned in advance. I was able to book a flight from Alicante, Spain to Ibiza round-trip for 100 euro with

Page 2: Important Technology used when studying abroad

Vueling, which comes out to approximately $120. This is nothing compared to flights between cities in the USA. Once you purchase your plane ticket on the app, you are able to pull up the barcode on you’re phone to scan the ticket on your mobile device. The one piece of advice I’ll give to potential study abroad students who want to explore Europe is this: book your flights early. If you book one month early, the round-trip will usually come out to 60 euro. If you book a week in advance, it’ll most likely be €200-250.

Viber – Just like Whatsapp, Viber is another phone app that allows you to send free text messages and call internationally for free if you’re connected to wifi. Personally I did not use this app, but many students who have already studied abroad listed this as one of their essential apps to message friends and family while overseas.

Skype – Most of us know what Skype is: video chat by computer. I used Skype a couple times to talk to my friends if I was planning on having a lengthy conversation with them. For the most part though, I tried to shy away from Skype while abroad. I knew that it would take away from the experience if I Skyped my Michigan friends everyday rather than explore Spain. Skype has rather benefited me the most back home because it has been the application I’ve used to stay in contact with my host mom and international friends. My host mom and I continue to Skype once every 2-3 weeks so I can keep my Spanish skills sharp while continuing to stay involved in my host mom’s life overseas.

Phone Camera – If you don’t have a professional camera to bring while studying abroad, a Droid/Iphone camera captures almost the same quality photos. Capturing photos while abroad is very important. How else are you going to reminisce over the great times you had or show your family the memorable trip you experienced if you don’t have photos? I brought my professional Canon camera with me to capture photos of landscapes and sightseeing locations around southeastern Spain that my host mom would take me to. When it came to capturing photos with friends or unique things I would see in the city, my phone camera was the number one choice.