The Top 5 Apps for Studying Abroad
Studying abroad is a massive upheaval. Moving away from home, to a new country, and often a new language, can be a daunting prospect. Which is why getting as much help as possible can be crucial in making your experience enjoyable and worthwhile. With over half a million Apple apps available, here is a list of the five that will be of most use to you when studying abroad.
Word Lens
Word Lens has been described as “an app from the future”. Whoever said that wasn’t far wrong. I urge you, if you only download one app when you study abroad, make it this one! Word Lens is a translation app, which uses augmented-reality technology to translate foreign text in real time. Put simply, by pointing the app at the foreign text your iPhone will instantly show you your desired translation. This is great for the initial period in a new country, making it simple to translate menus, road signs, posters and important bits of text. Word Lens is absolutely free to download, but you will have to purchase language packs from within the app for $4.99.
Skype
Whilst studying abroad might be a thinly-veiled attempt to get away from family and friends for a little while, it’s always nice to hear a familiar voice. Skype can be downloaded onto your iPhone or iPad and allows you to call, video call or instant message anyone else with Skype completely free. As well as this, it allows you to call and text people in your contacts at extremely low rates, meaning you won’t get hit with the normally astronomical overseas phone charges.
WhereToGo
Finding your way around a new city, let alone a new country, can be scary. This is why the free to download WhereToGo app is an extremely useful tool when studying abroad. If you need to find a bar, supermarket, pharmacy or train station, WhereToGo offers you a way. It works anywhere in the world and has 500 location categories, meaning you can find pretty much anything. Not only is it extremely useful, but it is clear and easy to use, with turn-by-turn directions leading you to your chosen destination. And for those students who want some unpredictable exploration in their new city, it has a Shake-to-Suggest feature. This chooses a popular destination in your area at random and really lets you experiment with your new surroundings.
Evernote
Let’s not forget the primary reason for studying abroad; education. Whilst all of the other apps will help you acclimatise to your new location, they don’t help when it comes to studying. Evernote does. Using this free app is a great way to organise your research and access it anywhere. Evernote allows you to access all of your notes, documents and research materials wherever you have an iPhone or iPad. Whether you want to have a quick read whilst on the move, or go over them in more detail at home, Evernote is versatile enough to let you.
Kindle
The Kindle app is great for research and reading. It’s available to download for free and has the largest book collection of any app, with over 1,000,000 books in its library. The Kindle app is optimised for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, giving you an easy-to-use-interface. On top of this, Amazon Whispersync will automatically synchronise your latest activity, meaning that you can pick up on the iPad where you left off on the iPhone.
Moving to a new country can be scary. But by downloading a couple of handy tools, the adjustment can be made much, much easier.
This guest blog was brought to you by experienced blogger Alexandra Jackson on behalf of SkyParkSecure, who offer excellent deals on secure facilities.
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