My best advice for students who are going abroad: 

(1) Secure your finances.

(2) Secure your finances.

(3) Know how to call the emergency number wherever you are.

(4) Make local friends. There are so many ways to do this: 
     (4a) Find a tandem on Facebook in order to practice local languages while simultaneously helping someone else learn a language.
     (4b) Find an exchange group or a local group in something you're interested in. Once again, Facebook is great to find these.

(5) Utilize Airbnb and buses as much as possible because money.

(6) Secure your finances.

(7) Use Transferwise to send money. Way easier and better than PayPal or any other transfer method. Seriously, I wish I had known that this existed beforehand.

(8) Know how to cook. This means going to local markets/supermarkets. Find 2 – 3 easy dishes. Trust me, this helps save money. Like a lot of money.

(9) Secure your finances.

(10) Limit time speaking to people back home. FOMO can be really depressing and any time you spend worrying about what you are missing means you are missing doing cool things where you are.

(11) Know how to get ahold of a taxi or Uber no matter where you are. Additionally read up on and understand local public transportation.

(12) Be able to function without a cell phone or internet if necessary. This seems trivial, but becomes very important if you have no cell or internet service. If you do want/require cell service, use a SIM card (they're pretty cheap, however this option is somewhat limited if you have an iPhone).

(13) Know at least the courtesies of any locality in which a different language is spoken. Your knowledge of the language should be proportional to the amount of time you plan on spending there.

Read more of my Study Abroad and Internship Abroad story:
https://www.wanderingeducators.com/best/stories/studyabroadbecause-diversity.html

Charles Kronk (charleskronk.com) is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in bioinformatics with focuses in German studies, international studies, neuroscience, computer science, web development, statistics, biology, chemistry, global health studies, European politics and theatre arts (because choosing any one thing was just too difficult).

He did a Rotary exchange and a DAAD-RISE internship in Germany. 

He is a DAAD RISE Scholar and Full Tuition Scholarship recipient at the University of Pittsburgh and has participated in club productions of Spamalot and The Drowsy Chaperone as well as University productions Avenue Q and this season's Rhinoceros. Charles has worked with the Clark Lab in the Computational Biology department and the Department of Biomedical Informatics with doctors Richard Boyce and Gerald Douglas. He founded the University of Pittsburgh Rotaract Club and continues volunteer efforts both here and abroad with Rotary International.