Have you ever considered taking time out to go abroad? Going abroad can be the biggest adventure of your life. It doesn’t matter how long you go for, a gap year or only for a couple of weeks, you will have amazing experiences. Every year a huge amount of students come from overseas to England. Here’s one young person’s account of coming to live in the UK from Germany for 6 months.... Right: British fish and chips!

Tell me about your experience?

For English students it is quite unusual to go abroad during school time. However in other countries many young people consider it, a lot want to do it and some actually realize their dream – as I did. I’m from Germany, I will be in England for six month and I really appreciate it. About my own experiences I can give you the following examples… Fish and chips is one of the best British dishes. I had to learn to wave at the bus driver to make the bus stop; it took three buses driving past me to teach me this! It is hard to find friends in established groups and I have survived the changes of families. After less than two months I started to actually think in English. I have seen so many different places and there are still three months left. I’m absolutely sure that going abroad was a fantastic decision.

So what are the advantages? It is as good as it sounds?

France, Spain, South America, Australia… wherever you go, the people will live differently to you and it’s your chance to discover a new culture and way of life.  Have you ever climbed the Eiffel Tower? Or eaten Paella? In a foreign country you will eat different food, do new kinds of sport and your whole daily routine will be completely different. Things like the education system and people’s values and ideas will be different. It’s likely to get you to think about your own culture in a different way. When you leave your whole life behind, you also discover the things that are important to you.

Another really great advantage is learning a language. Of course you can do this in school, but that doesn’t mean that you are really able to speak it. After living a while with native speakers you will understand the language perfectly and the longer you stay the more fluent you will become. And that makes travelling or working in a company with international contacts much easier should that be an interest of yours. You’ll also gain loads of confidence as you discover that you can do things you have never done before. You will benefit from the self-assurance and independence you achieve, which will help in every area of your life.

And the negatives?

As you can imagine there are some down sides to travelling that you have to get used to. You struggle at the beginning with the change in climate, food, etc. but after time you get used to your situation. Going abroad is a challenge you need to embrace and take head on. Things will continue to happen at home without you. You can’t stop it and you have to accept that you can’t participate in everything. Going abroad can mean a lot of work both in preparing for your stay, then after your return to catch up with work. If this seems daunting think about what you’ll learn, your CV and how refreshed, positive and raring to go you’ll feel when you get home!

When you arrive at your new home abroad, you won’t know anybody. You’ll likely have to trust and live with complete strangers. Basically you have to survive on your own without parents, siblings and your usual friends. You’ll probably need to initiate contact with new people. You’ll need to watch and listen carefully to be aware of how things and people work in your new environment and culture. This will help you learn how you appear to others, which makes it easier to built relationships later in life. If you are with a host family getting on can be a challenge for both sides. Nevertheless most of the exchange students I’ve spoke to say that they had wonderful families with whom they are still in touch. On the subject of families you have to realize that you will be homesick, but like all the other problems you can overcome this like I have!

The world is open to you - take your chance. Or why not become a host family and give another student the opportunity to see some of the amazing things in this country?

by Ines Kuester

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