Before Departure: Pre-Departure Handbook
Photo Credit: Chris Healy '09, from the Teaching English in Tibet blog.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow - mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely... broad, wholesome, charitable views... cannot be acquired by vegetating in one's little corner of the earth." - Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad.
Welcome to what will surely be one of the most exciting times in your life as a student!
It will be an experience filled with enjoyment and frustration, but the great times in this adventure, we can assure you, will be far more numerous than the minor frustrations you are likely to encounter. The purpose of this resource guide is to provide you, as a Haverford student, with the information about studying abroad to relieve your anxiety about what to expect.
Download the Pre-departure Information Guide 
This Guide is divided into six sections:
Jump to a specific section within the larger PDF, or download the entire Guide.
- Administrative Issues: Checklist, communication, documents, financial concerns, legal matters, next semester at Haverford, a note from the CDO, financial aid;
- Academic Issues: Registration, transcripts, attendance and withdrawal policies, a note from the library, academics and honor code abroad;
- Health Issues: Insurances, before you go abroad, documentation, health care and emergencies abroad, disabilities and chronic illnesses;
- Safety Issues: General tips, crime notice, terrorism and related concerns, racial/sexual harassment, rape, and STDs;
- The Trip and Life Abroad: Packing, travelling while abroad, money and money emergencies, orientation abroad, problems abroad, a note from Alumni Relations, successful intercultural adjustment, cultural cues, culture shock, re-entry syndrome, and Havershock;
- Appendices: General checklist, suggested packing list, health and medical resources, emergency numbers.
The Guide is for both you, the student participant, and for your parents, as we feel that both those who go away and those who stay at home should have a clear idea about the international study experience and should share in it. We urge both parents and students to take the time to read this Guide from cover to cover well before departure in order to be fully informed and prepared.
While some of the information contained in this Pre-Departure Guide has been researched and written by the Office of International Academic Programs staff members, much of it has been borrowed literally from informed sources, including students who have studied abroad on the program that you yourself are attending. Their advice, comments and impressions have been compiled in order to help your experience go more smoothly. Any errors that may have arisen in the course of compiling such information are unintentional and should not be attributed to the original authors. Students are encouraged to investigate the website sources and written resources listed in this packet for more detailed information and to purchase their own travel guides.