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The web is a useful source of information if you are preparing to away on a period of residence abroad and is useful for keeping in contact with your home university and country whilst you are away.
Whilst you are away
Whilst you are away the web can be a useful means of communication with your friends around the world and with your family and home university. Sign up for a free web-based e-mail account with a provider such as Hotmail (hotmail.passport.com), you will then be able to send and receive e-mails via the Internet wherever you are. If you do not have easy access to e-mail at your place of work or study, you are increasingly likely to find an Internet cafe where you will be able to log in fairly cheaply. Do make sure that you give your e-mail address to your home university and that you keep in regular contact so that you can be sent any relevant information about dissertations, projects or choices of courses for the next academic year.
Your home university may have set up a special Residence Abroad web area where you can pick up important information and news and leave messages for your tutors and friends. They might have even set up web-based videoconferencing (see www.hum.port.ac.uk/slas/rapport). This is far cheaper than telephone (ISDN) conferencing but until Internet access speeds increase it is of much lower quality. Whatever facilities are available, do make sure you visit the site regularly - it is important to stay in contact.
The web will also help you keep up to date with what is happening generally at home - something which is fairly important at the beginning when you are possibly feeling a little homesick and the newspapers are either days old or beyond your budget. Look for newspapers, such as the Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk) on the web or visit the BBC site (http://news.bbc.co.uk) for up to date news and broadcasts. You might also enjoy live or recorded Internet radio and TV which you can access through a digital tuner, such as vTuner (downloadable from www.vtuner.com).
Vicky Wright
University of Southampton
27/09/99