Edinburgh Exchanges

My name is Maxine, I am 19 years old and I am a student at Edinburgh University reading German.

As of the 16th of September I will be studying in Vienna, Austria until June 2009.

I feel as though I have said the above repeatedly to friends and family ever since I found out that I had a place at the University of Vienna. They all respond in the same excited manner, telling me how lucky I am and how terribly excited I must be. To which I reply with a smile and a nod and proceed to swiftly change the subject.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not an ungrateful, negative person. In fact I personally have responded to the news that various friends will be studying in France and Australia in the same excited manner. For me, it simply hasn't sunk in yet.

Since I've arrived back home this summer, my mum has been nagging me to organise accommodation, flights, banks, insurance and all of those other annoying little things which remind you that you're not just going on a little holiday. Today, I had to transfer the deposit for halls and it hit me (better late than never) that I would actually be living there. It's a scary thought.

I think what scares me most of all is having to do everything you normally do in German. As a child I was painfully shy and although I managed to overcome this before leaving school; I still have moments of crippling shyness in certain social situations with people I don't know, when as each moment passes it makes it more and more difficult to open my mouth and say something; anything. Your own silence magnifies itself until, for you, it's the biggest thing in the room and you're sure that everyone notices that you haven't said anything witty in the past five minutes. I am so scared of not being able to think of anything to say in German and going unnoticed and friendless for the entire year. I know it's a common fear among all students going abroad but I think not being fluent in the language makes it all the more daunting.

This would appear to have turned into a rather negative outlook on my year abroad, which I promise you is not my overall opinion of it. I am extremely happy to be going to Vienna – it was my first choice and although I've never visited there, I can see from pictures that it is my kind of city, with beautiful architecture and a rich history and culture, very much like Edinburgh. I am also very excited about being able to come home this time next year and be completely fluent in another language. Personally, this is what it's all about it. The experience and the independence I will inevitably gain will be an added bonus. I am looking forward to being able to travel around Europe; visiting my friends who are studying in France and our proposed end of year tour through various countries.

When I try to gauge my own feelings beyond the nerves, apprehension and general stress which comes with trying to organise a move to a foreign country I know that I am excited and I know that this is going to an amazing year and an amazing opportunity which, as everyone says, I am extremely lucky to be able to have.

My name is Rosie, and to put aside the formalities, I am a Scandinavian Studies and English Literature Joint Honours student at the University of Edinburgh. As a student of Norwegian, I am one of very few people destined to spend the next academic year studying at the University of Oslo.

Despite being part of a rather pleasant minority in my year abroad ventures (at a last count, there are only four students headed out to the frozen north, and we are the first to attend the University of Oslo in this capacity), it is with certain trepidation that I approach this coming year. I have never once regretted learning the language of the world’s richest countries, both in monetary and literary terms. Nonetheless, preparations for this massively inflated economic situation began two years ago for me: I have spent my time so far at University living at home, all in order to save as much money as possible to stay afloat in a country where anything as simple as a block of cheese can cost up to £5! Even typing this seems sheer madness.

First and foremost, I worry about my language skills: I would rate myself as average, and would love to improve upon my ability to speak and read fluently more than anything else this year. I have been allocated accommodation in a student village that is renowned as the home of most of Oslo University’s international students. Whilst I am looking forward to meeting people from all parts of the globe, I am also conscious of the fact that I must improve my Norwegian language skills, and know that I already face a setback to these due to my prospective place of residence.

I will also be living relatively far from campus, which frustrates me slightly as I had previously been looking forward to escaping the unreliable clutches of public transportation, and will now have to rely upon a tram service to make my way to campus most days.
Furthermore, I am concerned about financial aspects of my exchange perhaps more than others abroad elsewhere in Europe, purely based on the massive inflation rate of Norway in comparison to Scotland. My rent seems manageable, but I know that food bills will be at least double the cost of those at home, and I worry that any attempt at budgeting will fly out of the window within the first week, which would be incredibly disheartening!

Despite my various concerns, I am looking forward to so many aspects of the coming year. My public transport woes are offset by the fact that I will be living beside a huge forest and lake, perfect for long walks, swimming, skiing, and a whole host of other delights that seem impossible at home. I can’t wait to explore a new city, and look forward to making new friends and receiving visits from old to introduce them to a country they’ve barely thought twice about. My subject choices at Oslo University look to be really interesting and I hope they will inspire and prepare me for my dissertation and final year back in Edinburgh, as tediously academic as that may sound to some.
Having come straight from the bosom of family life, with the numerous advantages of free hot meals and my mother’s sterling laundry, I expect that my first weeks in Oslo will be a challenge.

Presuming that I manage to navigate these, and to avoid ironing as far as possible (I have been taught great tricks involving clothing and showers and steam, which I’m sure even I couldn’t make a disaster of), I can imagine that I will feel instantly more confident in my own abilities, and can begin my exchange with a slight boost to my self-belief.

All in all, weighing up the prospective problems and positives, and doing my best to downplay to myself the amazing magnitude of this new adventure, I look forward to an exciting chapter of my life beginning on the 11th August 2008.

Ciao tutti!

It’s now two months and counting until I will be packing my bags and winging my way to Italy, and I cannot wait! My name is Ffion, I study Italian and English Literature, and in September I will be leaving Edinburgh for the sunnier climes of Bologna, and Europe’s oldest University.

Living in Italy has always been an ideal of mine, so much so I am currently buzzing with excitement at the very thought of it, and am waiting for the nerves to kick in when I realise that I’m actually going. At the moment it is very much an unreal prospect –no matter how many course booklets I look through, flight prices I compare and facebook groups I browse, I feel that this is all for someone else, not for me. The day I actually realise I’m leaving will be a very strange, and I expect, very emotional one. Though, if I were going to leave Edinburgh for any other city, it would have to be one in Italy.

Italy has always felt like a second home to me. I’m not entirely sure why I feel such a strong connection to it; I have no Italian family, and although I’ve visited frequently since I was a wee kid, I’ve never actually lived there. But somehow I can’t help feeling this is going to be the best year ever, and in a strange way, that I’m going home. Of course I have apprehensions, and of course I don’t relish leaving my friends and moving to a brand new city to start all over again, but the thrill of having the opportunity to live in Italy far outweighs any worries I have. After all, this is exactly what many of us did when we arrived in Edinburgh for Freshers’ Week, and for me at least, that was an amazing year which I look back on with extremely fond memories. Surely an Erasmus year is thus almost a second-first year, just this time in a sunnier climate, with a more confusing language barrier, but also with the confidence of knowing you’ve done it all before and you can do it again, no problem.

Speaking to this year’s Erasmus students who are currently on their way home, I realise how lucky we are to have this whole experience ahead of us; I’m losing count of the amount of times I’ve been told they’re jealous of us new students getting ready to go! Of course it won’t all be easy, of course there’ll be periods of difficulty and homesickness when it will seem a lot easier to have just stayed and shuffled around the familiar cobbles of George Square, but I feel it’s time for a new challenge. Something slightly more adventurous than a post-exam road trip to the Highlands in a clapped out Ford. Something slightly more testing than going to a party where you hardly know anyone.

I just feel that now, it’s time to leave the comfort zone, and frankly, I can’t wait.

Hello!

Before I get going with a proper, full-on blog, I might take a minute to do a bit of an intro! I see myself as something of a contradictory character – I study English Literature but my favourite book is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I love to travel but I hate cars, planes, trains and any other type of transport (motion sickness) and I love French, France and pains au chocolat but I didn’t want to spend a year abroad with our Auld Ally.

In fact, back at school, when I was originally applying for uni places, after months of being torn between various course options, I eventually decided not to study French, but went for history instead, solely because I found the thought of a year abroad so horrifying. When I got to Edinburgh, I put that thought out of my head and pleaded with my DoS to let me do French instead of history, and now, here I am, about to head off, first to l’Université de Bourgogne, in Dijon, and then to the Lycée professionnel Les Alpilles in Miramas, near Marseille where I’ll be doing an assistantship.

In all honesty, all the things that bothered me about doing a year abroad in the first place are still on my mind – leaving my family, my amazing flat in Marchmont, friends, my boyfriend and everything familiar and beloved does still worry me, as does the thought of trying to manoeuvre my way around a totally new existence in a strange place. I love the varied and exciting life that I’ve created for myself in Edinburgh and it’s always seemed a bit self-sabotaging to exchange that for something else which might not measure up.

Visions of making some kind of major social faux pas and being an eternal outcast sometimes plague me late at night – but to be honest, social faux pas are kind of my thing anyway and that kind of mistake is rarely irreparable! I’m finding now, that my thoughts are straying far more often to all the things I’m looking forward to about the trip than the things I might miss in Edinburgh or the things that could go wrong. I can’t wait to travel around Europe a bit and fill out my ‘places I’ve been’ map on Facebook; I daydream about being able to flit around France like a native, speaking in awesome, colloquial Français, fulfilling my wish to be able to make puns in another language…it’s going to be amazing!

Above all, I think, it’s going to be an adventure; the type of adventure that people write about and blog about and then talk about for the rest of their lives, the type of adventure that people sometimes allow to pass them by and then regret it forever, so I’m absolutely determined to make it the adventure of a lifetime – I can’t wait!

¡Hola! I’m Fraser, and this is my blog which I’ll be keeping about my time at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona.

A wee bit about myself! I’m 19 (although I’ll be 20 when I arrive in Barcelona), I’m from a town called Inverurie in the North East of Scotland, I study Computer Science at Edinburgh and, err… Facebook me if you want to know more!

I’ve finally managed to get some of the important things sorted out…
• After a gazillion emails about prerequisites and ECTS credits (Edinburgh wanted more credits than UPC did), my courses are chosen and I’m now officially accepted.
• I’ve applied for my Número de Identificación de Extranjero at the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh, which I’ll need to open a bank account and get a mobile SIM card.
• I’ve applied for accommodation in a privately-owned Residence (RESA Pere Felip Monlau). It’s not quite Pollock in terms of size, but I wanted to live with as many other students as possible, and they don’t really “do” university-owned “halls” at UPC.

I went over to Barcelona in Easter to suss the place out. Visited the halls and they seemed nice, quite spacious and in a really good location near La Rambla etc… the only problem is that I’m not guaranteed a place - I’ll find out in August. If I don’t have a place, then I’ll panic!

Visited the uni too, seems more intimate than Edinburgh, but modern, friendly and more Meditteranean-European-ish.

I don’t really know what to expect from this exchange, but I hope that any worries I have now will be quickly alleviated. I’ll hopefully make friends with people from Barcelona and other parts of Spain as well as other international students (I’ll be one of those! weird) and I hope that I’ll quickly “tune in” to Spanish and be able to feel comfortable speaking about most subjects. I’m really looking forward to finding a ‘crew’ to help me discover Barcelona’s infamous nightlife, too.

There are only really two things I’m apprehensive about, apart from passing the exams; coping with the languages, and making friends (and the fact that not coping with the languages could hinder my friend-making!) My Spanish is fairly decent, but when I watch TVE on Sky or listen to Los 40 Principales online, it can be pretty hard to follow – they speak so fast! As for Catalan, I’m working through some online courses and I’ve ordered myself a Teach Yourself Catalan book... but I’m hardly going to be fluent. I will definitely do an intensive Catalan course when I arrive, even if just to meet some of the other no-parlants.

I know it will all come together eventually and I’ll have the most amazing year, but it’s a daunting prospect being in a foreign city with two foreign languages, trying to live and study using those languages, and trying to keep in touch with everyone from home that I’m going to miss so much.

Still… roll on September!

22nd June 2008

Subject: Introductions and Preparations

Finally exam results are back and all of the forms have been sent, I’ve even received my confirmation of acceptance to the ENSCL (Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille) in France. It’s been so long since I applied for the Chemistry with a Year in Europe course that I had begun to believe that I would never get to France, but four years later and it’s all happening and I don’t know how I feel! I’m excited, certainly, but it’s mixed with apprehension and oscillates between the two. I’m worried that when I get there I’ll just feel lost and confused but it’s all a part of the challenge.

The application process started in March and is still going on, it has been simple compared to the arduous process of applying to do a year in Industry like so many of the chemistry three students, but there are so many forms! I’m surprised that out of the whole of the chemistry course only two of us are taking a year in Europe, that’s partly why I’m writing this journal, I know quite a few people who changed their mind which is a shame because it’s such a good opportunity. I hope that by writing this journal I can give more information as I think the lack of it over the years puts people off. I came to the conclusion that there’s no point in worrying, ‘que sera sera’ as they say!

I think being a chemistry student spending fourth year abroad, rather than a language student spending third year abroad has made the whole process more difficult. A lot of the information is catered towards language students who have to take courses and pass exams for credits, I’m still not sure exactly what I’m doing but all of my assessed work is sent by Edinburgh and I’m mainly doing lab work but I can go to courses and I think I’m taking a few first year chemistry ones and Japanese and they offer an intensive French course when you arrive!

I’ve been really impressed with the ENSC Lille so far, compared to our education system it seems so much better, to get into the école students have to do two foundation years after their baccalaureat and then they take two languages and business studies along side their degree. It may not be as good as it sounds but it will be interesting to experience a different stystem.

Hopefully this journal will be of use to people who cannot decide if they want to go abroad or not, I doubt it will all be plain sailing but i’m determined to make the most of it and take the chance to improve my practical chemistry skills, my french language skills and maybe my CV as well. I will be arriving in France around the thirtieth of August, I don’t even know what accomodation I will have but there’s no point in worrying about that now and I will keep you updated on all of the highs and lows !

Until next time....

To date, the standard reactions I’ve had when I’ve told my friends that I am moving to Finland for the year have been “why do you want to go there?”, or even worse, I’ve been asked to explain exactly where Finland actually lies in Europe.

It seems that, to most people, because I no longer study languages, I have no need or would have any desire to be an exchange student. Or, if I am going to be a non language Erasmus student, I should study in the Netherlands, which is clearly the only English as an academic language capital of the world… To want to go somewhere as unknown as Finland seems, well, different.
So, why am I going there?

Being completely honest, Helsinki was actually the only Erasmus option for social anthropology students, and at first I was slightly disappointed. In my head, an Erasmus year took place somewhere hot and exotic such as Spain or Italy, not in a cold, unknown city close to the Russian border. Then, I realized that those said places were far from exotic, and if I went to the stereotypical Dutch destinations, my Erasmus year would be far from original or different. I’ve done a lot of traveling around the world (I’m currently sat in an internet cafe in Mongolia) so why did I think that I wanted to go to somewhere as simple, where I had been before?

My decision to go to Helsinki was made at the exchange fair when I spoke to the 2006-07 Edinburgh students who went there. They enthusiastically showed off all of their photos whilst speaking about all of their memories and friends, and gave lots of advice on accommodation and good places to drink. Their obvious love for the city lead me to realize that Finland was interesting, and I really wanted to go and live there. I hope that I will be that passionate about my experiences come next year.
Saunas are provided for each flat in my accommodation. Apparently this is a common addition to many Finnish homes and now I have an image in my head of me being the typically English girl who can’t deal with the heat whilst the more “cultured” Europeans casually sweat it out. Hopefully by the time I get back to Edinburgh I too will have developed the sophistication and laid back manners- which I always associate with non Brits- to cope with both the crazy sauna heat and the scary sounding -20’c and below winters.

Learning seemingly little things like that from the other Erasmus students is something I really want to achieve in the next year. I know that sounds such a cliche, but its true. Right now, I don’t feel European in the slightest, I am British. But then, saying that, before coming to Edinburgh I wasn’t British, I was English and two years of Scotland has completely changed the way I identify myself. So, perhaps a year in Helsinki will help to bring out my hidden European side.

My Universität Tübingen accommodation and general application forms sat on my over-cluttered desk for weeks, patiently waiting to be filled in.  Exams came and went.  The day arrived.  I sat down and pulled the forms toward me.  And as I first put pen to paper there and then, it finally dawned on me….. ‘I’m going away.  I’m actually going away.’ Butterflies in my stomach.  ‘On my own.  To a foreign land.  For seven months.  ON MY OWN!’  The butterflies suddenly lost their wings. 

All of this sounds very dramatic but in reality it wasn’t.  My name is Adam Clarke and I am from Northern Ireland; I am twenty years old and am studying Modern European Languages (German and Russian) and European Union Studies. In January of next year I will be arriving in the quaint little town of Tübingen in the south-west corner of Germany as part of an Erasmus exchange.  And like any student planning to spend time abroad, I and everyone else around me harboured a mixture of views towards the whole experience.  The age old stereotypes reared their heads again as my friends back home believed spending months in Germany could be summarised with the three ‘B’s- bratwurst, beer and busty Bavarian maidens.  On the other hand, my mother could barely hold back her emotion; to her, it was as if I was going to prison for seven months rather than on an exchange!  Although she’s calmed down a bit since, the mere thought initially of her little boy (I’m an only child) living so far away was just a bit much; Edinburgh was far enough.  But at the same time, that little strip of water called the Irish Sea has for two years acted as a comfort blanket of sorts for my mum; as long as it was close, she knew I was never too far away. 

Having lived and studied in Edinburgh for the past two years, I personally am well acquainted with living the student life in the big city away from home.  However, when I eventually land on the continent and embark upon my Erasmus exchange, there will be endless miles of countryside and urban jungle, a whole set of Alps and the combined populations of France, Belgium and Holland between me and the comforts of the Emerald Isle.  A pang of apprehension set in.  But it didn’t stay long.  To let all of our tedious little grievances and apprehensions become obstacles to us enjoying our upcoming time abroad is to forfeit our right to be called language students.  The ability to communicate through language is one of the fundamentals which characterises us as civilised and sophisticated life forms.  A language student should therefore always aim to be accepting of and open minded towards other cultures and ways of life, no matter how much they may differ to our own.  Very philosophical stuff and while written above, this was admittedly not the only argument which quelled my own personal apprehensions. 
As I came to the end of writing my application forms and signed my name, I suddenly realised, ‘Slotting myself into a population of 80 million Germans and speaking their language, the language I’ve had a passion for since my schooldays and being immersed in the culture of that nation for the best part of a year…..that was the reason I became a language student.’  The Butterflies rediscovered their wings.  Besides if I can survive three months in the biting chill of the Russian winter beforehand, I can survive anything!

Well, the final bloggers have been chosen and once they're up and running we will have weekly blogs from a variety of places around Europe and then from the International Students as well.