Your First Week Sorted: The New International Student Checklist for Studying Abroad

The flights are booked, the suitcase is somehow both too full and missing everything, and in a few days you will be standing in a city where you do not yet know a single person. Exciting. Also slightly terrifying. The good news is that the admin side of arriving is a known quantity: thousands of students do it every September, and it always comes down to the same short list. Sort these seven things in your first week and you will spend the rest of the semester actually living, not queuing at offices.

We have put this in the order that genuinely matters, because some steps unlock others (you often cannot open a bank account or finish enrolment until your address is registered). Tick them off top to bottom and you will not get stuck.

What should be top of your first week checklist?

Here is the whole list at a glance. Print it, screenshot it, whatever works. The rest of this guide walks through each one.

• 1. Register your address at the local town hall or registration office.
• 2. Get a local SIM or eSIM so you have data and a number.
• 3. Buy a transport pass with your student discount.
• 4. Open a bank account (an online one will do to start).
• 5. Lock in your housing through a source you can trust.
• 6. Collect your student card and finish enrolment.
• 7. Go to one social event in your first week. This is the one most people skip and most regret.

Why is registering your address step one?

In most European countries you are legally required to register your address within a set window of arriving, usually a couple of weeks. The office has a different name everywhere (the Burgeramt in Germany, the empadronamiento in Spain, the Gemeente in the Netherlands), but the job is the same: you tell the city where you live, and they give you a registration certificate.

Do this first because that certificate is the key that unlocks the rest. Plenty of banks, phone contracts, residence permits and even your final university enrolment will ask for proof of a registered address. Book the appointment the moment you have a confirmed place to stay, because slots fill up fast in the first weeks of term. Bring your passport, your rental contract or a landlord confirmation, and your enrolment letter.

How do you sort a SIM and a transport pass quickly?

These two are the quick wins. With data and a way to move around the city, everything else gets easier.

SIM or eSIM. A local prepaid SIM is cheap and gets you a local number, which some apps and deliveries want. An eSIM you can activate before you even land. Either way, mobile data is not the thing that will break your budget: it runs about €10 to €20 a month for a 10GB plan in most euro cities, around 35 zl a month in Krakow and around 4,000 Ft a month in Budapest. Grab a SIM at the airport or any phone shop on day one.

Transport pass. Almost every city has a discounted student travel pass, and it pays for itself within the first week. The price swing across cities is huge, so check your city page for the exact figure. A few real numbers from our network:

Figures are in each city's local currency. Riga's student transport pass is the bargain of the bunch at €15 a month, while Berlin sits at the top at €58. In Madrid the monthly cost depends on your zone and age, which is why it spans €10 to €54. Always buy the student version, and bring your enrolment proof to claim it.

Do you really need a local bank account?

Short answer: you need a way to pay and get paid without bleeding fees, and you need it fast. The fastest route is an online bank like Revolut, N26 or Wise. You can open one from your phone, often before you arrive, and start spending in local currency with no foreign card charges. That covers you for week one while you find your feet.

A traditional local account is worth opening later if your landlord, your part-time employer or your scholarship insists on a local IBAN, and that is exactly when your address registration from step one earns its keep. So: online bank now for speed, local account later if something specifically requires it. Do not let the bank step block your move-in.

Where should you actually find housing?

This is the one step we will not pretend to handle ourselves, because housing deserves a proper, verified source and not a panicked scroll through a sketchy Facebook group at 1am. The Student Life is about the life you live once you have keys in hand, so for the room itself we send you to people who do housing properly.

For verified student housing across our cities, head to our sister brand Socials Homes. If you are heading to Budapest or Riga, go to Fuse Stays instead, who run all-inclusive student co-living in both cities and make the whole move genuinely simple. Lock your room in before you arrive if you can, then book your address registration appointment around the move-in date.

What about your student card and enrolment?

Once your address is registered and your offer is confirmed, finish your enrolment in person at the university and collect your student card. That card is more than an ID: it is your ticket to the discounted transport pass from step three, cheaper canteen food, library access, museum entry and a long list of student deals around the city. Some universities issue it on the spot, others post it, so ask at enrolment so you are not caught out at the metro barrier.

How do you actually meet people in week one?

Here is the truth nobody puts on the official checklist: you can tick off every form above and still feel completely alone if you skip this last step. The students who have the best year are not the ones with the cleanest paperwork. They are the ones who said yes to something in their first week, before the nerves had a chance to win.

So make step seven non-negotiable. The single best move is to find your city in our network, join the per-city WhatsApp community so you have people to message before you have even unpacked, and come to the Welcome Festival, the big arrival event where the whole new cohort meets at once. It is the fastest way we know to turn a list of strangers into the group chat you will spend the year with. Every city page links straight to its own Welcome Festival, so start by finding your city.

What do students get wrong about their first week?

A few patterns repeat every single year.

• Leaving address registration too late. Appointments fill up in the first weeks of term, and half the other admin waits on that certificate. Book it the day you have a confirmed address.
• Paying full price for transport. The student pass can be less than a third of the standard fare, like Riga's €15 a month. Never buy the adult ticket before you have your enrolment proof.
• Trying to do everything before having any fun. The paperwork will still be there on day five. The first-week welcome events will not. Front-load one social thing, not all the admin.
• Winging the housing search. A cheap room from a stranger online can cost you a deposit and a lot of stress. Use a verified source like Socials Homes, or Fuse Stays in Budapest and Riga.
• Going it alone. Everyone arriving feels the same wobble in week one. The fix is other people, which is the entire reason the per-city community and the Welcome Festival exist.

Frequently asked questions