As many of my fellow Ball State University peers know, two of the essential items necessary for college life is a phone and a bank account. When I left Indiana for England, I had to leave behind my precious Blackberry. I'm a little embarrassed to say, but that was one of the hardest things I've had to do. I loved my Blackberry- all my friends' numbers were in there, I could easily access the Internet and I could make calls at my leisure.
When I arrived in England, I went to London to sight see for a few days and had no phone. Yes, I went about five days or so without a phone. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be since I was so busy.
Just like in America, there are many different phone companies that students can choose from. Lucky for me, I had a cousin living outside of London and he did some research for me as to what phone company would have service in my area (about five hours away) and what phone company would be good to have.
When I went in, I was just looking for a basic phone. No Internet, no touch screen, just very basic. I also decided to do a pay as I go phone plan because in the end it would be cheaper. What did I end up with? I got a Samsung E1080 for 14.99 pounds. I pay 7.50 pounds per month, I have unlimited texting to UK numbers and I bought a calling card for 5 pounds to call back home. It's not too bad of a deal. There are days when it's hard not to have Internet at my fingertips, but I will survive.
As for banking, it's a bit more challenging at times than it should be. At least I went from English speaking to English speaking. I feel bad for the international students who don't speak very good English. I had a hard time grasping some of the bank lingo and it was in my own language.
I had to get a letter from my university stating that I was a student there and my address for the bank. I then had to go to the bank, set up an appointment and open up my account. After some typos on my application to open the account got taken care of, I waited about five days to get my card in the mail. Needless to say, I was short on money waiting on my card to come in for about a day or two. That was slightly scary because I couldn't do anything about it because all I had was American money that I was waiting to convert at the bank.
Now that I have my bank card and access to money, I feel much better. With having an account, my mother can also wire me money, which is always a bonus. Although the amount that she actually wires me never makes it here because of the currency exchange. I will talk about that at another time though.
If you ever hear any international students talking about having difficulties with figuring out which phone company to go with or they're not sure about banking, help them out. It's hard to understand until you have been in their shoes but a little help can go a long way. Everyone wants to be able to contact others through their phone and have access to money.
Check out Sara's other blog posts at snnahrwold.blog.com.
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