Erasmus/year abroad - anyone with experience of it?

[Dunlurking]

Ds is applying for a course where all the unis offer a year abroad and it is compulsory at 2. Could anyone recommend particular Erasmus destinations or European/USA/Australian unis that their dcs have been to? It might help his decision making.

I'm feeling a bit nervous about it inview of IS attacks in Paris and wondered if people thought some destinations/countries might be safer than others in the future........ French is, in fact, his best language

I wouldn't go to Paris, as it's expensive and not a particularly student-y city - friends of mine had great experiences in university cities like Toulouse or Cologne.

I spent a year in Madrid, went there just over a year after the bombings in 2004, and it was incredibly safe. Safety in terms of terrorism didn't ever cross my mind, despite the bombings and history of separatist incidents. Random acts or extreme weather events could happen anywhere. Unless your DC is considering going to a war zone, and is sensible, he will almost certainly never come across anything to worry about.

Just to add, I used to take the same train every day as one which was bombed in Madrid. I would occasionally see people making the sign of the cross as they got on, but really that was more of a reminder that everyone has to get on and live their lives.

I couldn't afford to do the Erasmus year abroad but about 50% of my friends did it in Belgium, France, Spain and Germany. I appears to have been enormously rewarding both in terms of cultural experience, tuition and life long friendships made.
In every instance fluency in another European language has created enormous career opportunities for them [alongside a good degree result obviously].
Its my one major regret in life.

My sister did her study abroad year in Paris and it's incredibly studenty (although you are right about the expense, it's comparable to London). Half of my year did their work placements in Paris (while I was in Lyon) and it was fab. I do think that working for some or all of your year abroad is much more beneficial not only financially but I was offered a graduate job by my work placement employer (French government) and worked for them in Paris for 4 years after graduating. It's a weight off your mind during finals when you have already signed an employment contract.

Best thing I did though? When our university arranged for us to go to Murcia to study after 18 months of Spanish from scratch, they gave us a piece of paper with a name and an address on it (a professor at the uni there) and told us to get on with it. There were 6 of us, this was the days pre-internet and pre-mobile, so we flew there, found a hostel and practically camped in a phone box for a week with a copy of the local paper, a map and a bag of coins, trying to find an apartment. It was amazingly good for standing on your own two feet and I would like my kids to do something similar but I fear they will be molly coddled and provided for by their unis and have less of a learning curve than I did....

Actually, TreadSoftly has reminded me of one very important thing my daughter got from her 6 months abroad. She made loads of friends among the German students and has been back to see their graduation show. She also made friends among the other Erasmus students and has been to stay with some of them in two other countries. Another one is hoping to come and see her while studying in the UK.

I did my year abroad (actually 6 months) in France in 2001-2. We arrived in late September 2001 to find that all but two of the Americans had decided not to travel abroad anymore after 9/11. Their loss. It was an amazing time and has probably contributed more to my growing up process than any one other period of time. I then became a languages teacher and kept in touch with some of my pupils who went on to do years abroad. The only ones who ever had a bad time were ones I could have predicted before they went - all because of their own attitude and nothing at all to do with where they went. Although I think, ideally, somewhere where English isn't the first language will be more of an immersive atmosphere, as long as there's enough grasp of the language/small enough community of English people that he won't just hang around with them all the time rather than integrating.

My DS1 did an Erasmus year in Berlin - had a fantastic time and made some great friends. He only had GCSE German but did an intensive course just before he left (organised by his University), and coped OK.

Treadsoftly your comment about it being a major regret not to have done one, having seen your friends' experiences comes over really powerfully. Thank you.

Hassled was that recently? - as I have been reading that Berlin is the place to be and work these days. Brilliant for your ds!

Fink your comments on extent of language immersion and size of English group sound very helpful - so was that what was wrong with the ones who had a bad time - that they didn't mix locally, or use the language?

Patty that sounds exactly what I would hope ds could come back with, amongst all the other benefits.

scandichick I could see ds enjoying a university town. I had a boyfriend doing a year in Germany near Tubingen. I loved visiting him! I think he has to be at a uni anyway as it's not a lngauge course where he works for the year.

MummaGiles thanks for being so reassuring - your comments were just what I needed to hear - thinking a bit with emotions after Paris!

Myfriends what a brilliant outcome to your time in France. I can't imagine finding accommodation the hard way anymore but someone up thread did say they got zero help from their uni in making arrangements.

Yes, the ones who actively had a bad time usually had made no effort to make friends with any locals - do did their job/studying and then just sat around at home the rest of the time.

The others that sort of had an ok time but I don't think made the most of it basically formed friendship groups composed of other foreigners on a year abroad and didn't try to do any socialising with locals.

Thanks Fink I shall explain that to ds.

I did Erasmus last (school) year and it was brilliant, am jealous of any DC that's still got that ahead of them....

The tuition money goes to the department sorting out your uni stuff for free, examining you, supporting you while you're away e.g. it was made clear to use we could come back and use the libraries/MH services, or talk to anyone in the department for advice whenever we wanted to. Our department and Erasmus coordination are awesome though, might not be the same everywhere.

If improving your language is the aim then I'd say uni is an excellent option. All the essays you have to write and all the set texts they make you read... My uni wouldn't let me write in English (host unis allowed that) and all my grades counted towards my degree (not always the case) so I really had to put the work in, I did so much reading, and my grades/grammar are loads better now, plus reading quickly is much easier. Bear in mind that they might let you use a certain number of ECTS on a language course (B1+), which I did in a four-week holiday, so I had one less class to worry about during term. Oh and in both my unis they did let you write 'Erasmus' on your papers so you're not marked down too horrendously on grammar. Have never worked as hard as on my Erasmus year, never drunk so much red bull and amazing wine, never enjoyed it as much or discovered so many new interests in and outside of school.
Paris uni was tougher than Austrian uni in terms of pushing you re: analytical thinking & originality (and 20 min presentations, though one prof let me do two extra extended essays instead, bit of a raw deal), Austrian uni was tougher in terms of the sheer volume of stuff you need to know for the exams. Though the department head did say that four VO (Vorlesungen) was too much, but I needed the ECTS and just exams, no coursework, seemed too good to pass up...
I was lucky with rent and accommodation both times so won't talk about that.
Also I would say head for a city, not a tiny town somewhere with British Council, just my humble opinion (aware that some people will have had great times in small places). As a student a city is just made for you, so much to do, so many people in the same situation.

If anyone's DC are going to Paris & they like to babysit they should look up Speaking Agency. French families pay you to speak English to their kids and I got stg like 152 euro a week for 13 hours. I did it so it could go on my CV and I could spend time with adorable toddlers :) and the money paid for my M&S food habit

Erasmus grant was incredible, it wasn't advertised so was a lovely surprise I got I think around £2300! Because of the language course I took in holiday time they gave me an extra £400 when I came back in Sept.

OP if you like, PM me for the name of the French uni I went to, which I'd definitely recommend 100%

what a ramble. sorry! I like talking about Erasmus :)

velourvoyager I liked hearing hearing about it. Thanks very much for the brilliant "ramble" So much helpful stuff there. Will pass it on to ds. Hopefully others on here will find all that useful as well - mumsnet is a great resource, isn't it!

First step - just got to keep fingers crossed now that ds gets the uni offers, then warn him to be really proactive about his Erasmus application.

Don't forget some of the best French speaking universities are actually in Switzerland. My DD went to Geneva and there are lots of very good reasons to go there if your university has it as an option. They don't take a huge number of Erasmus language students so they think you are special. If you apply in good time, you will get very reasonably priced accommodation. The university works like clockwork! My DD had a room in a beautiful flat about 10 mins away by tram from the university. Her flatmates were Swiss and wonderful, helpful and they are still in contact with each other. The pass mark there is 66% but my DDs home university expected her to take the exams but passing was not obligatory. She did, but British universities differ on this. She had to write long essays for her Uk university based on her year abroad. In her case two universities.

Her boyfriend at the time went to a Grand Ecole in France for a year on his Engineering course. He had to be assessed at the uk university to ensure his French was up to standard. If it was not, he may have gone to an English speaking university. Universities in the UK have links with universities all over the world. Check where students can go at open days or on their web sites. You can even do French on Reunion Island.

Dad was never short of money, even in Switzerland, as her rent was cheap. As for getting a job, DDs university made it quite clear to parents and students that they did not offer this service. It is down to the family/student to sort it out. You will then sort out your lodging too. some students really struggled to find suitable jobs so DD felt the university option was more secure and she studied topics she was interested in - A third language and History of Art. I agree that the teaching assistant posts with the British Council can be remote. DDs friends also found that they were lonely as lots of the local young people were away at university. Also they have too many applications, and in DDs year, did not let people know they could not find a placement until very late! They then had a really big problem. It is a brilliant year for a resourceful student and definitely adds to their employability.

Did law with French and did my Erasmus year in Limoges - small city in backside of beyond. Really enjoyed the year and the smaller town was cheaper and easier.

I would really recommend a placement where the aim is studying rather than teaching efl. We studied a mix of first and 2nd year subjects with the French students which was a challenge at first but very good for our French.

I did a year in France years ago as part of my degree.

We were told that the options were limited to language assistants. That was something I was looking forward to. I applied to an area of France I knew well and knew people in but was told a during the June before going that it was over subscribed in the area. THere was then a mad scrabble to find out what to do or where to go. That's when I found out I could study instead. I was away over that summer in another country so there may have been other options.

It was a good year, but there was limited info about the course. We got a grant, that was good at least but the uni structure was very different in France and was a lot to get my head around.

I would say the wonders of having the internet now, get the chance to really look into all options. If a chance to do something different to others, but valuable, then might be better as others have said, for differentiation.

Check out what studying in the chosen country is really like as culturally it will be different (we had 4hr lectures, lectures all day, etc which was so different from being in arts fac in UK!), the subjects will be slightly different (as courses in the UK are) so worth checking out what is required. There were some elements of our course that were obligatory but I had never done some of it before so was unable to do all of the exams. That was ok, but if I'd been able to do it, I could have got the equivalent to HND/low degree in France as well as my UK degree.

Hope that helps.

It is also worth adding that many universities here cannot help with accommodation at the chosen university abroad. Some universities abroad have no accommodation for Erasmus students at all. You have to get in touch with landlords before you pitch up. Also, if your chosen university does offer accommodation, the chances are it will be first come, first served - so apply as early as possible. The private market in some cities is very very expensive! You may have to factor in staying in a hotel or B and B with your DS to sort things out if it all goes pear-shaped. Read everything you possibly can on the website of the foreign university to get a flavour of what they offer or indeed, do not offer!

Also, some universities abroad are very popular and not all students get their first choice. My DDs Erasmus dept said the only "organised" universities are in Germany and Switzerland! Did would utterly agree that Italy was chaotic, and Switzerland very good. Also the universities in the programme at the UK university can change so do not get fixed on one because 3 years in, it might not be offered. Dd was the first tranche of MFL students to go to Switzerland, it had only been offered to science students before.

Thanks Millymollymama, Basketofchocolate and randomsabreuse . I think all his chosen courses expect you to be studying at a university as it isn't a language degree. That's very interesting about the accommodation and I will warn him he has to be proactive and early. Thanks.