Thinking Back to Wanting to Study Abroad

As I have mentioned before, my year abroad is rapidly approaching its end. It’s sort of funny how something I’ve been thinking about since 2014 is going to be completely over and done within a month.

I was thinking about studying abroad pretty much as soon as I started to seriously look through university prospectuses. I just knew that I wanted to take the chance to go out and study in another country. When else in life do you really get the opportunity to experience another country in the way you can as student studying abroad? In fact part of what sealed the deal for my uni and the degree that I am studying was that I could have a full year abroad instead of the more typical single semester.

Throughout last year I wrote quiet often on my blog about the process of getting ready to go on my Year Abroad. From submitting an application to getting a Study Visa, it was a long process. However it was not a continuous process, sometimes months went by with nothing happening and then I had about twenty different things to sign and submit all at once. The process of getting ready to go out made it feel like it would be a long time until my Year Abroad happened, then before I knew it I was sat in my bedroom with my parents figuring out how to cram everything I needed into a suitcase and a hand luggage bag!

I am really glad that I could have a full year. If I had only had a single semester then I would say the first semester is the better one to go abroad. There’s one major benefit to going out for the first semester and that is everyone else is new, as everyone is sort of in the same boat it’s a lot easier to make friends. I’m also glad that I didn’t chose to do a split year at two different universities as the stress that would have involved would probably have been too much for me.

There have been some trials and tribulations along the way, but ultimately I don’t think I would have done it differently. This year has probably not been what I was anticipating back in 2014 (for instance at one point I was convinced I would be in sunny California not snowy Canada!), however I have enjoyed my study abroad experience.