Edinburgh Exchanges

Hi Guys,

My name is Matthew, I’m 20 years old and I’m currently studying French and Spanish at the University of Edinburgh. At the end of summer I will be travelling across the channel for the first leg of my year abroad in Limoges, before moving on to Barcelona in 2009. Having been fairly relaxed throughout this holiday, I’d be a liar if I said that this year abroad wasn’t a daunting prospect. But don’t worry, having debated switching course in order to avoid it or even dropping out completely, I’ve come to the conclusion that such drastic measures are perhaps not necessary and that chances are I’m going to have an amazing year.

Like a lot of dual-language students, I have to split my year abroad between two countries in order to get practice with both languages. The downside of this has definitely been the amount of paperwork I’ve had to fill in! Keeping track of which form has needed to be filled in for whom and for where has been particularly tricky, but for the moment I’ve done all I can (as far as I know!). In fact, a lot of what I need to do for the Universitat Aútonoma de Barcelona cannot be done until closer to the time when I go there, so I’ve got that to look forward to late in the year.

Now I’m no stranger to spending extended periods of time abroad, with my parents having lived in places like America, China and Dubai in the past, yet living alone in France and Spain will be a completely new experience. For the first time I will be abroad without the safety net provided by my parents, without my close group of friends and without the comfort of being able to communicate in a language I’m completely fluent in. I also feel a slight added pressure regarding how my language is going to progress and how easy it will be to make friends in the shorter periods of time that I have compared to students spending all year in one place. All in all, however, I’m extremely excited about the experience and cannot wait to go, as overcoming each of these hurdles will make hopefully make the experience all the more rewarding.

I’m finally going to get the chance to use and improve the languages that I have spent the last 7 years learning from textbooks in classrooms! Like everyone else, I’m nervous about the usual things – Are my language skills good enough? Will people understand me? What if I don’t make any friends out there? But ultimately, these are irrational fears. Of course my language skills are good enough – I wouldn’t have passed the last two years if they weren’t! Of course I’ll be understood – there’s no doubt that mistakes will be made, but one thing that I’ve learnt as a language student is that the only way to truly learn a language is by being willing to make errors and learn from them. Finally, of course I will make friends, as long as I’m willing to make the effort to get out there, meet people and get involved.

This at least is what I keep reminding myself every time I get nervous or worried about what’s coming (which seems to be happening a lot more frequently as the time draws closer!) Hopefully the courses that I’m taking at both universities won’t be too difficult either! That way I’ll get more time to really explore the areas I’m living in and to enjoy being independent and living abroad.

Good luck to everyone in a similar position jetting off on their year abroad. Not everyone gets the chance to have an experience like this and I plan to make the most of it. One week to go…

After a hectic first week (spent mostly exploring the numerous student unions, which are all amazing, it must be said), my classes have finally begun! Norwegian language, Norwegian Literature before 1900 (not really my cup of tea, my I need to improve my knowledge of age-old texts if I am to have any chance at understanding new ones, as Norwegian authors love to drop in various references to “classic” literature) and Phonetics. I had initially been looking forward to beginning classes to give myself something to do (eating pasta alone in my room in Kringsjå was beyond tedious), but changed my mind completely upon actually meeting real human people and gaining a social life. Having now begun my classes, I can safely say that I still echo this sentiment, though mostly due to the fact that I now know how hard people work here. After three days of teaching I am now of the opinion that I have successfully completed two years at Edinburgh University without having made any real effort in contrast to the massive level of self-disciplined study that goes on here.

An example: in Edinburgh, my contact teaching hours average 15 per week. In Oslo, I have around half that. Whilst some might make the claim that this makes Edinburgh a "better" institution, I have already noticed a far greater maturity in the students' approach to their studies here that I find remarkable (and, quite honestly, slightly intimidating!)

As I expected, all my teaching is in Norwegian, and I haven’t experienced any problems other than attempting to understand other international students speaking the language! Myself and C, from my Norwegian class in Edinburgh, are often complimented on our accent when speaking the language, and I’m not sure what it is but I think that, somehow, being Scottish makes it easier to adapt to the standard Norwegian pronunciation. However, German and Russian students, of which there are many, struggle with these pronunciations, and as a result we often struggle to understand anything they say! However, it really has been a positive experience meeting other students who chose to study Norwegian, as it goes without saying that we are a small minority.

I am in an incredibly lucky position to have classes only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (I really couldn’t have wished for a better timetable), leaving me with fantastic long weekends. Last weekend my friends and I partook in a very Norwegian tradition known as vorspiel (yes, the word is German, and yes it does literally translate as “foreplay”, I’ve heard too many crude jokes to find it funny anymore) which very simply involves gathering somewhere before a party and enjoying as many drinks as you can without falling over in order to avoid paying sky-high prices in Oslo bars. The following day we barbequed pølser (think hot dogs, but far more appetizing) in lømper (best described as a cross between a crepe and a tattie scone) in one of the park areas in the city centre until 8pm, and it was still wonderfully warm. The next day I scoured fantastic little local markets with a new friend before indulging in a lazy Sunday lunch in a painfully trendy part of the city. This weekend a few of us are considering going to Nordmarka for the day, one of the forest areas on the outskirts of the city, but as much as these plans thrill me, I have been scared enough by my workload to put it top of my list (for this week anyway). How dull, but strangely essential if my experience of studying here is anything to judge by at this point. In essence, I have encountered culture shock number one: the students are lovely, but fiercely good, and they don’t even appear to be trying. Oh dear.