Year Abroad: The Best Bits

In the first part of this Year Abroad series, I wrote about some of the challenges I came up against during my own Year Abroad, all of which are fairly common issues students abroad face, and I shared some tips on how to deal with them. So it makes sense that the second part of this series should focus on the biggest advantages of doing a Year Abroad!

While it's true that some students have a less positive experience than others, I think everyone finishes the year with improved language skills and a sense of accomplishment. My personal experience was that it was the best year (well, 15 months actually!) of my life so far, and it changed me in ways I'd never expected.

In this article, I'll be writing about the six best things that happened to me during my Year Abroad. I'd say that most people who go to live abroad experience the majority, if not all, of these things, so hopefully this post can serve as inspiration for anyone debating over whether to do something like this!

Travelling

Mendoza, Argentina

One of the main reasons that people decide to live in another country is because of the opportunities it gives you to explore a different part of the world. I split my Year Abroad across three countries (France, Austria and Chile) and had the chance to visit several regions in each of them, as well as five neighbouring countries (Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Argentina). Five of those countries were ones I'd never been to before, and South America was also an entirely new continent for me, so I finished the year feeling like I'd seen a lot more of the world. It's an amazing experience to get to spend an extended period of time discovering different cities, regions and countries and learning about their cultures and languages. I'd say the most memorable travel adventures of my year would include my trips to Valparaíso, the south of Chile, Vaduz, Bratislava and Udine, as well as my few weeks in the south of France. But to be honest, I loved nearly all of the places I went to!

Experiencing a Different Culture

Musée du Louvre in Paris, France

When you spend several months in another country, it's inevitable that you'll learn quite a bit about its culture. Obviously it takes years to fully understand a culture, but you can definitely learn many interesting things within a short space of time! Some of the cultural activities I participated in included visiting art galleries and exhibitions in France, learning how to do a traditional dance in Austria, and cooking some local recipes at a university workshop in Chile. And I also learnt about the customs of daily life in each country; for example, Pünktlichkeit (punctuality) is highly valued in Austria, whereas in Chile, people often show up to events at least half an hour later than planned! It's really interesting to find out things such as this, and it also helps you learn how to become a more adaptable person.

Improving Your Language Skills

Sargans, Switzerland

Of course, if you're studying a languages degree, the main goal of the Year Abroad is to become fluent in the languages you're studying. (Well, at least in theory, that's the main goal of the year. 😉) The whole reason universities include a Year Abroad as part of their syllabus is that it's so much easier to pick up a language when you're actually living in a country where it's spoken. I would say that if you spend a semester or a year abroad, and you make the effort to speak your target language on a daily basis, you'll certainly become very fluent. In terms of the languages I was studying, my French was already quite fluent at the start of the year, but it still improved a lot during my weeks in the country (though sadly, I'm now quite out of practice!). My German was pretty poor when I arrived in Austria, and because I was working in a mainly English-speaking environment there, I still wasn't fluent when I left four months later. However, my listening skills had improved immensely, and I can thank the German versions of Say Yes To The Dress and Come Dine With Me for that! As for my Spanish, it was definitely the target language that I improved in the most. Chile was the country where I spent the longest amount of time, and not everyone speaks English there, so I had lots of opportunities to practice. And I also picked up a whole new vocabulary while I was there. Qué bacán po!

Gaining Work Experience

The scenery outside my schools in Feldkirchen in Kärnten, Austria

A Year Abroad can be the perfect opportunity to gain some useful work experience - something many students are lacking in. I'd done some casual work during my Gap Year, but I'd never officially been employed prior to my Year Abroad. So my placement as an British Council English language teaching assistant in two schools in Austria was my first "proper" job and a really valuable experience for me. It was great to get to know the world of work better, and especially to be introduced to the sector of teaching English as a foreign language, which is the same sector I'm working in now! I also ended up doing some shorter work experience placements in Rouen, France: one in a veterinary clinic and one in a cat café. Neither are fields that I expect to work in again, but I loved spending time with all the cute animals! 

Finding Friendship or Love

Cerro San Cristóbal in Santiago, Chile

If you do a Year Abroad, you'll meet a lot of new people, some of whom may turn out to be lifelong friends or even something more. Of course these things don't always work out, which is something I wrote about in my previous post, but some people do find love abroad and stay together afterwards. I am one of the lucky ones, as I met my boyfriend Claudio in June 2018 when I was living in Santiago, and we're still together nearly three years on. I think it's great to have a boyfriend from a different country; we teach each other interesting things about our languages and cultures, and we act as each other's tour guides when we're exploring Chile and the UK! Soon I'll be moving back to his city, Santiago, for at least a year, which I'm really excited about. It just goes to show how much a Year Abroad can change your life and open up a new future for you.

Personal Growth

Cerro Manquehue in Santiago, Chile

All things considered, I would have to say that the best thing about completing a Year Abroad is how much it makes you grow as a person. Before I started the year, it seemed crazy and overwhelming that I was going to go and work in a different country for several months, and then travel to the most faraway country in South America on my own and live there for half a year, not to mention fitting ten weeks in a third country around both of these things. But I did it, even though I didn't always believe I would. There were plenty of challenges along the way, but they helped me become stronger and more adaptable as a person. Overall, I'd say that planning and completing the year is one of my proudest achievements.

So those are just some of the best things that I gained from doing a Year Abroad, but it's by no means an exhaustive list! The advantages of doing something like this are huge, and all I would say to anyone who's undecided is just to go for it. You definitely won't regret it!

The final part of this series will be about planning a Year Abroad and will be on its way very soon...

Read Part 1 of this series here and Part 3 here!