International Student Blog

We have put together a Christmas Video Card for all international students around the world that visit our site. We hope you have a great holiday period and an even better 2008 - enjoy the video:

With the new year only weeks away, a new semester will start for many students - some will be returning back to school and for others it will be a start at their new school. To help you with this, we have provided a checklist of things you need make sure are in place for the new semester:

1. Check/ Book Flights
Check and reconfirm your flights for your trip over. If you have not booked a flight yet it is not too late and it could actually save you money as Airlines tend to put sales on after Christmas.

2. Arrange Accommodation
When you first arrive, make sure you have accommodation during the first few nights.

3. Finances/ Student Loans
Make sure all your finances are in order - if you still are short of funds, you can still apply for an international student loan

4. Student Health Insurance
While some schools will automatically require you to enroll in their insurance plan, other schools will leave this up to you - and most schools will not allow you to register without proof of insurance. Save yourself time and hassle by applying now, so that you have confirmation ready when you arrive to register for classes.

5. Stay in touch
Being in a foreign country can be daunting, so make sure you have a way to either call home or for home to call you with an international calling card or sim card.

6. Ask Questsions
You will most likely have lots of questions, hopefully your international student advisor will have answered them all and they are the best person to talk to. However if you want another perspective try international student forums for information and to talk to other students.

…..and the most important thing is to have fun and enjoy yourself!

Students are notorious for wanting to get cheap things, and for most part if you are a student you can get things cheaper than most through student discounts, student travel cards, etc… However if you are not a student or you want to get even cheaper airfare when you travel around the world we have some great money saving tips that will help find great low cost flights:

1. Travel on Holidays - With this time of year, the rush to get flights can really push up the prices and so trying to fly home before Christmas will most likely cost a premium. If you want to get home, but still save some money, travel on Christmas Day or the day after Christmas (Boxing Day for the English folk amongst us) to save money. Flights are generally much cheaper and there is more availability - so if you can arrive a few days later its a great option!

2. Travel on Off-Peak Days - There are off-peak and on-peak days in the travel industry when flights are generally cheaper. If you want to save some money try and fly on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday as the cost will often be lower than flying over the weekend or on Monday/ Friday.

3. Search Low-Fare Airlines - If you live in NY for example, and you want to get to Nice in France, sometimes trying to book all the way through can be expensive. Instead try booking from NY to London, Paris, Madrid which are the main trans-atlantic routes and then look at low fare websites like Ryan Air or Easyjet for cheaper connections - it could save you some money.

4. Flexible Locations - Often flying from major airports can be more expensive so check out the other airports, for example London has Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Stansted and Luton all within a close distance. Most cities are the same and have smaller airports that are cheaper to fly into.

For more information to search for low-cost student airfare, please see our site and if you have any other tips to find low-cost student airfare deals then please feel free to post any comments.

The 106th, Holiday Issue of the International Student News has just been released and should be in your inbox now. This month we are celebrating the winner of our Annual Travel Contest, plus have some good tips for those who are looking to get home this holiday period. The issue includes:

- 2007 Contest Winner
- Student Blog
- From the Mailbag
- Holiday Travel Plans
- Fun Site of the Month
- USJournal.com
- Student News
- Learn ESL/ English
- Last Word

To view this online please visit:
http://www.internationalstudent.com/newsletter/issue106.html