To second year students who thought that they had survived all the challenges of fresherhood and had finally settled into the gentle rhythm of student life, think again, placement year is upon you.
To second year students who thought that they had survived all the challenges of fresherhood and had finally settled into the gentle rhythm of student life, think again, placement year is upon you. Get ready. Some of you might have tracked down a placement closer to home, in which case, enjoying reverting back to your teenage self and arguing with your parents. Others may be eager to live the corporate life in London, in which case, please don’t create a TikTok showing your morning routine, no one cares about your overnight oats. However, those of a braver disposition will want to see what lies on the other side of an EasyJet flight and go on holiday, I mean, study abroad.
I was one of these such people and I spent a semester abroad in Spain. In all honesty, it was one of the best periods of my life, but that is not to say that there weren’t tough times, and many embarrassing moments. But luckily for you dear students, I have embarrassed myself quite enough so that you don’t have to, and here is my quick and honest survival guide to your Erasmus exchange.
Well I say Erasmus, and although abroad, you will be referred to as an Erasmus student, this will be in name only, as you will not have access to any of the funding, discounts and you’ll be needing a visa, one of the many pleasures brought to us by Brexit. The summer before you depart will most likely be ruined by bureaucracy and rushing to get to your visa appointment. Heads up, you might be given different addresses, make sure you go to the right one. Learn from me, you do not want to turn up to the wrong place and then sprint across central Manchester, accidentally run in front of a cement mixer and then attend your visa appointment covered in wet cement and second-degree burns.
It will all be worth it though, but be warned, your first week of your study abroad may give you unpleasant flashbacks to Freshers week, given the amount of times you have to answer the same, generic questions, like “where are you from?”, “what are you studying?”. However, thankfully you are safe from SU arena nights. You will most likely go to events for international students, these events will be filled with a variety of people, some may be older doctoral/masters students or people who have just moved to a new city for work. And do not be scared to go into these events alone, others will be there alone too. Generally, people are much more friendly and less awkward than your Freshers friends at Bath, and you will get to meet people from all over the world, not just Surrey.
When moving to the continent, get used to everyone being well dressed and better looking than you, seriously, even the bin men look like they’ve just stepped out of a Versace advert, but don’t worry, you're not ugly, you're just British! Invest in a trench coat and don’t wear any other colours than black, white or grey and you’ll be fine. In general, it is best not to be self-conscious about the way you look, your language skills or fitting in with a new group of people. At the end of day, as long as you’ve got some great Instagram content to make people at home jealous, you’ve pretty much smashed your time abroad.
The main skill you will learn abroad is adaptability. Get ready to go months without a decent cup of tea and Cadbury chocolate, and please, don’t constantly talk about how things are better in the UK. If you think you’re too cultured to watch the TV sitcom ‘Benidorm’, watch it in preparation for your time abroad. While Americans may see the UK as an extension of Downton Abbey, many Europeans see us as drunks who refuse to learn the language. Try to prove the stereotype wrong: brush up on your irregular verbs and tone down your quirky British humor, your new international friends won’t get it! I learnt this the hard way in my first week, I accidentally insulted my new flatmate by saying, “we spend too much time together” when we wanted to go into the same shop. I meant that we were close, but she looked offended and I had to spend the next fifteen minutes trying to explain myself.
Now, while for most of us Bath students returning home at 3am after Jimmy’s seems like a “crazy” night out, for most European students, coming home anything before 6am would be considered an early night. The key to these super long nights is very easy: coffee! Start early in the day, create a build up of caffeine in your system and then drink a shot of espresso before pre drinks, so that it will be impossible for your eyelids to drop sleepily while dancing to Bad Bunny at 5am. Another key tip to these long nights is: sip, don’t gulp. Us Brits can be big drinkers (you know who you are) with no stamina. You’ll find that people on your Erasmus won’t drink as much and at a much slower pace, so when in Rome…
There will be highs and lows to your time abroad, you will discover that annoying things that happen in the UK, like unhygienic housemates and disappointing dates, are universal experiences that can happen anywhere. But I can quite confidently say that my experience was mainly full of highs. My time in Spain brought me out of my shell and transformed me from your typical awkward British student to a slightly less awkward student who can now brag about my semester abroad for the rest of my life.