Words and photos by Olivia Declerq, ASA's Fall 2026 Journalism Grant recipient. Olivia is taking over our blog this semester. Check in weekly to follow the ups and downs of her study abroad experience as she navigates life in Aix-en-Provence, France, and beyond.
After months of thinking about the prospect of a semester in France, the reality is finally hitting: I’m going to be in Europe in just a few weeks. This summer I’ve known I’ll be abroad, but the course approvals from my university and the fight with my financial aid office to access my scholarships have kept me distracted and unsure about my commitment to travel abroad.
Now I sit in my bedroom with a paid invoice, class schedule, and a pile of purchases for my semester abroad. It’s not a prospect any longer; it’s real. But now I’ve got to clear up all of my loose ends.
One of the biggest struggles I’ve faced while preparing for my study abroad has been my phone plan! My provider’s international phone plan is rather expensive, and there’s a plethora of more affordable eSIM options… sounds simple enough. Until you try to download an E-sim and find out your phone is, in fact, not able to access any of them.
After approaching my provider, I found out the problem: my family finances their phones. This isn’t uncommon. Most of the time when people get a new phone and set up their phone plans, they don’t pay for the entire phone up front. Instead, it’s like a mortgage. You pay part of the phone off each month on top of your data plan. SOOOO basically you don’t own your phone if you’re financing the phone.
What makes this difficult for studying abroad is the ability to purchase one of those cheaper eSIMs. The rough difference between my provider and the eSIM options is $100 monthly to $40 monthly, so it’s not an insignificant difference. Thus, I paid off my phone since there was only $40 left on the phone’s payment plan.
That’s not the last step, though. After paying off the phone, you have to sign in and manually request the phone to be unlocked from the provider. This doesn’t happen automatically, so you have to remember to get that request in with enough time for the provider to approve and actually unlock the phone. But long story short, my phone is unlocked, and I am ready to get an affordable, international phone plan.
Now that my phone was figured out, I could start making a packing list… yay! It took a while to figure out, but below is a copy of my packing choices. The summary comes down to categories: pack clothes that are light but layerable, pack travel toiletries and essentials, bring all important documents AND copies, organize your electronics and get adapters, pack medicine inaccessible in your host country, and bring relevant travel supplies for hostels and weekend trips. Some of the luxury items I packed include a Brita water bottle, a hefty power bank, a travel towel and sleeping bag liner, AirTags for luggage, and a Kindle for buses and trains.
The countdown is officially on, and while the logistical hurdles were a headache, every solved problem brings me one step closer to boarding that plane. To anyone else prepping for a semester abroad—check your phone’s unlock status today and make a packing list, trust me! Next time you hear from me, I'll be navigating life on the other side of the Atlantic in France. Au revoir for now!
Thanks, Olivia!