Cameroon.

The foreign-student scene is small, which cuts both ways: you will not find a 500-strong Erasmus WhatsApp group, but you get adopted fast. Cameroonian students are sociable and curious, and campus life runs on football, student associations, church and faith groups, and long conversations over grilled fish and a beer.

Nightlife is real in Yaounde and Douala, bars, makossa and bikutsi, and clubs that do not fill until midnight. Days move slower and plans stay loose, so lean into it. Learn a few phrases of French (or Pidgin in the Anglophone west) and you will go from tolerated tourist to mate within a fortnight.

This is the headline: Cameroon is cheap for anyone funded in euros. An all-in student month runs roughly €400-700 depending on how you live and how much you travel. Rent and food are the big savings, a plate of street food is barely a euro, and a shared taxi across town costs about €0.40.

Where it bites: imported goods, reliable wifi and flights home are pricey, and you will want cash for everything (cards barely work outside big hotels). Budget for a solid data plan and keep an emergency buffer for the unexpected, power cuts, a dodgy stomach, or a spontaneous trip to the coast.

• Room in a shared flat: €80-200/mo
• Street-food meal (poulet DG, ndolé): €1-3
• Monthly groceries: €80-120
• Local transport (shared taxis, moto): €20-40/mo
• SIM + data (MTN/Orange): €10-15/mo

Most exchange students land in university residences or a rented room near campus in Yaounde. Residences are cheap but basic and fill early; private rooms and studios (a chambre moderne or studio) run about €80-200 a month, more if you want reliable water and a generator for the power cuts.

Search on the ground, not online, Facebook groups, the university international office, and word of mouth beat listing sites. Never wire a deposit before you have seen the place; fake-landlord scams targeting foreigners are common. Bring someone local to view and negotiate, budget one or two months rent as a caution, and check water, power and mobile signal before you sign.

• University residence, cheapest, book via the international office
• Studio or chambre moderne near campus: €80-200/mo
• Never pay a deposit sight-unseen, viewing scams are common

Cities run on shared yellow taxis (flag one, say your destination, pay about €0.40 a hop) and moto-taxis, locally bendskin or okada, which are faster, cheaper and how most students actually move. There are no student travel passes; you pay per ride, so know the going rate before you climb on.

Intercity, take an agency bus (Yaounde to Douala is about 4-5 hours for €8-12), book with a known company, not the cheapest curb-side van. Camrail runs trains including an overnight Yaounde to Ngaoundéré. Roads flood in the rains and timetables are suggestions, so leave buffer and never bank on arriving exactly when planned.

• Shared yellow taxi hop, ~€0.40
• Moto-taxi (bendskin), fast and cheap, take the helmet if offered
• Yaounde–Douala agency bus: 4-5h, €8-12

Cameroon runs a French-style system: lectures are formal and often large, assessment leans on end-of-term written exams, and you are marked out of 20 (a 12-14 is a solid pass; anything over 16 is rare). It uses the LMD structure, Licence, Master, Doctorat, with credits, but ECTS transfer is not automatic, so pin down the equivalence with your home coordinator and get it on your learning agreement in writing before you go.

Teaching language depends on where you are: Yaounde and most of the country teach in French, while the University of Buea in the Anglophone Southwest teaches in English. Standouts are the University of Yaoundé I (sciences, medicine), Yaoundé II (law, politics), the University of Douala, and Dschang for agriculture. Workload is exam-heavy and admin is slow, so stay on top of registration.

It depends on your nationality, but the short version is that almost everyone needs a long-stay student visa arranged before you fly, through a Cameroonian embassy or consulate. Expect to show your admission letter, proof of funds, accommodation details, a return ticket and a yellow-fever vaccination certificate, plus a fee around €100. Processing can be slow and bureaucratic, so start two to three months out.

A yellow-fever certificate is mandatory just to enter the country, and antimalarials are strongly advised. If you are staying a full semester or more, you may need to register for a residence permit (a carte de séjour) once you arrive, the international office will walk you through it. Keep photocopies of everything and carry ID.

• Long-stay student visa from a Cameroonian embassy before travel (~€100)
• Bring: admission letter, proof of funds, return ticket, yellow-fever cert
• Yellow-fever vaccination is required just to enter
• Long stays: register for a carte de séjour after arrival

You will eat well and cheaply. Staples are ndolé (bitterleaf and peanut stew), poulet DG, grilled fish with plantain, fufu and eru, brochettes off a street grill, and beignets-haricots for breakfast. Meals are generous and shared, lunch is the big one, and come eat is a genuine invitation, turning it down flat can offend.

Norms that catch students out: greetings matter (always say hello before getting to the point), dress is smarter than you would expect, and African time means plans run late, so relax. Photograph people only after asking, and steer clear of police and government buildings with a camera. Big dates include national football fever, Youth Day on 11 February, and Christian and Muslim festivals across the year.

Studcasa's on-the-ground city here is Yaounde, the capital and the natural base for most exchanges, but a couple of other student towns are worth knowing before you commit.

• Yaounde, the capital and Studcasa's pick: hilly, Francophone, university-heavy, and the safest, best-connected base for a first exchange
• Douala, the hot, humid port city: Cameroon's business and nightlife hub, louder and pricier than Yaounde
• Buea, a small English-speaking uni town under Mount Cameroon; great campus feel, but check the Anglophone-region security situation first

Weekends are for the coast and the mountains, and most trips are cheap if you take agency buses and stay in guesthouses. The catch is safety geography: the south and west near Yaounde and Douala are the go-zones, while the Far North (Boko Haram) and much of the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest are off-limits or need serious caution, check current advice before every trip.

The best broke-student runs are the beaches around Kribi and the green highlands around Dschang and Foumban, all a few hours out. Bigger adventures like trekking Mount Cameroon are unforgettable but sit in the sensitive Southwest, so weigh it carefully.

• Kribi, white-sand beaches and the Lobé falls that drop into the sea, ~3h from Yaounde
• Foumban, royal palace and Bamoun craftwork, a proper culture weekend
• Dschang, cool green highlands and a lake, a break from the heat
• Limbe / Mount Cameroon, black-sand beaches and a 4,040m trek (Southwest, check safety first)
• Douala, the go-to for a big night out

None of this is hard once you know it, but a few things trip up nearly every newcomer in their first month.

• Carry cash and small change, cards barely work and taxis never take them
• Never pay rent or a deposit before viewing the place in person
• Sort your yellow-fever jab and antimalarials before you fly
• Learn enough French (or Pidgin in the west) to greet and haggle, it changes everything
• Keep photos of your passport, visa and vaccine card on your phone and in the cloud
• Check official travel advice before any trip north or into the Anglophone regions