dd is going to Bordeaux for her 3rd yr
she's v excited and happily planning..not expecting me to do anything, thankfully a very independent person
I am however a tad anxious and would like to hear some other peoples experience of theirs or their childs yr abroad.
how did you get all your stuff there?
were you homesick?
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experiences of Erasmus yr abroad please (France)
30 replies
ggirl · 10/03/2013 17:58
OP posts:
fussychica ·
10/03/2013 18:19
Lurking as DS has applied to Bordeaux plus two other regions for his 3rd year placement but as a Language Assistant in a school rather than going to Uni. Have to wait a couple of months to find out what's happening. I'm a bit anxious too though he's pretty laid back about it.
ggirl ·
10/03/2013 18:46
Was hoping to beable to do that Bonsoir, she thinks I'm fussing but is willing to let me, maybe a short family trip to get her settled .
otherwise it's a lot of stuff to shift
OP posts:
Indith ·
10/03/2013 20:58
oh I love Bordeaux. my mum is from there so spent lots of time there with family. I did languages too, spent time in Russia and Spain. I just packed a rucksack and got on a plane. great times 
Indith ·
11/03/2013 18:06
Oh yes, I remember how irritating and flipping impossible all the registration process was at the Spanish university I went to! It was mayhem! I found a really interesting module one day but when I turned up to the next class it wasn't where is was supposed to be and I never managed to track it down again.... You were just free to go to any class you wanted for a while and then you had to register for the ones you wanted. Different classes were worth different amounts of credits and you had to do a certain number of credits. However different UK universities have different requirements of their students on Erasmus so where some poor sods had to go to all their classes, write the essays and pass the exams at the end we pretty much just had to be registered and occasionally turn up. I think I was in Barcelona with by boyfriend when exams were being held 
.
Year abroad is fab. It can be tough, expecially if you need to do more than one country. Arriving at the start of the year you are on the same footing as the local students and you start classes with them and mix more. Plus if you are staying for a whole year I think you tend to make more local friends as they see it as worth their while making friends with you ikswim. Of course making local friends is the best thing for your language skills. It is much harder when you switch country mid year, everyone else knows what they are doing but you don't, local students just see you as part of a transient group and not worth making friends with. Plus you probably just got settled where you were and had to leave so you miss the other country as well as missing home.
Be aware that they really don't do societies etc like we do in the UK so it can be much harder to integrate. What interests does she have though? I may be able to help with contacts for various things (scouting/guiding, choirs etc).
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