Spending a year abroad studying can be an intimidating experience. Dispelling the myths and common misconceptions that surround it can make attending a university abroad a wholesome and great experience.
If I were to say the word ERASMUS to you what images does it conjure up? A James Bond villain? The latest pop group? A variant of Botox? Well, really it’s three months to an academic year spent abroad studying, working or being a language assistant in Europe. Named after a Dutch Theologian, Erasmus of Rotterdam 1466-1536, the EU backed scheme just celebrated its 21st birthday with parties in each of its participating thirty countries. But I don’t speak any languages can I still join in?
It doesn’t matter if you’re a novice or a ‘know it all’ linguist, because when you arrive at the host country you are given language and cultural lessons in the local lingo. After, you decide whether to continue with them throughout your time at your chosen destination or not. The classes are taught in a relaxed atmosphere and it’s a great opportunity to meet your peers, not only from other universities in Britain but students from all over the EU as well.
So can anyone participate even if they don’t do a foreign language degree?
Generally everyone from students, who are enrolled in a University or Higher Education/Further Education institution, to staff and teachers who are employed at these centres can participate. Your degree subject isn’t important but the best thing to do is to check with your uni as they might have their own restrictions.
I want to do it but don’t have much money. What do I do about funding my ERASMUS experience?
If you do decide to take up the ERASMUS challenge, your Local Education Authority (LEA) automatically gives you a year abroad loan which is handed out to you earlier than normal (usually in August) plus you get a special non refundable loan from the EU distributed from your uni and, to put the icing on the cake, if you spend the whole year in Europe studying, you pay no fees to your university in Britain! If you really want to improve your experience you could even get a part time job whilst abroad. Your LEA also pays for two return flights plus any public transport costs you incur to get to your host university. However still check with your LEA because rules and regulations differ depending on your borough.
What can I study and do my grades count towards my degree?
Most host universities have a set of recommended modules for Erasmus students to study. Some allow you to take modules in any of their faculties irrespective of whether you have previous knowledge in that subject or not. Whatever you choose to study your modules must equal up to a minimum of 25-30 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System credits (ECTS). These credits are a system to ensure you roughly study the equivalent number of credits you would back in Britain and are used as proof that you did study abroad. Whatever you study you must get approval of your subjects from your home and host universities otherwise you can lose out on your ERASMUS grant. You simply have to fill in a ‘Learning agreement’ form. Some home universities oblige their students to take the exams to prove that they actually studied (instead of scuttling off to bars or lazing on a beach) whilst other institutions use your results to count towards your degree. However, don’t let this be a wet blanket on your ambitions to study abroad. The lecturers, tutors and classmates at your host university usually help you out as much as possible.
How do I participate?
Contact your Erasmus co-ordinator at your university.
To find out more log onto www.britshcouncil.org
With 31 countries participating there’s a country to suit every personality.
Case Study
Whenever anyone asks me what I thought of ERASMUS I always say I want to repeat every second of it all over again. At first it was really daunting arriving in a country I had never visited before and hardly able to string a sentence together. After a 2 hour coach trip passing landscape that looked like a dessert, I arrived in my new home for the next 6 months, Coimbra in Portugal. After filling in what seemed to be a year’s worth of forms, I was whisked off to my temporary accommodation.
I had a week to find my permanent accommodation using adverts that I would find in the local papers, on lampposts, on the side of telephone booths, from word of mouth, and using the university approved booklet. By the end of the week I still hadn’t found a place to live and was starting to panic. I returned to the International Office and told them about my situation. Fortunately one of the secretaries knew of a place around the corner from the Student Union. The four bedroom flat smelt of stale food and gas by day and wreaked of beer and sick from tipsy students by night. To add insult to injury, the landlady arrived 4 days later to inform me that I had to leave because I wasn’t spending the year in Coimbra.
I had to pay a months’ rent and she gave me two weeks to find a new place before she would have me evicted. I started house hunting again visiting over 6 different properties which were in various states of decay. My only hope was a 7 bedroom flat in a prime location close to the university, Students’ Union and cafes. The only catch was that I would be living on top of two restaurants and a testosterone fuelled Frat House. But how bad could it be compared to the other place? After numerous attempts at trying to contact the landlady I finally met with her and we negotiated a bit before she handed over the keys.
My six other female flatmates all came from Portugal except for one who came from Brazil. I got on well with all of them except for one. We’ll name her ‘L’, when she wasn’t moaning at me for my dress sense, she was complaining about how inconsiderate British people were, or after I had left the flat she would rearrange all my food in ascending height order in the fridge or on the shelf. She would also bring her drunken friends from the Frat house below to knock on my bedroom door at three in the morning. After confronting her and the boys from the Frat House about this they finally stopped when I threatened I would call the police. She even attempted to stop obsessing over the height of my food but that only lasted a week. With time I got accustomed to her OCD and let her be.
Coimbra is a great place to do Erasmus. It has one of the oldest universities in Europe, is a small and friendly town that retains a real student vibe, accommodates well for waves of international students that attend the university and hosts two mega student festivals.
With all this going on there were plenty of distractions that could have kept me away from studying my chosen topics of African Cultures, Brazilian culture, Linguistics, Latin and Portuguese Journalism. Luckily I didn’t need to pass my exams because the University of Manchester only obliges its students to sit the exams. If it were not for my flatmates I would have found it really hard to learn and study. And although I had challenging times with my flatmates, and with the boys from the Frat House below, who found it amusing to play the trumpet from dawn till dusk, they are all experiences that I will cherish.
Lots of people try to deter you from getting to know other British students, but I think otherwise. When you start to feel homesick and miss things that are culturally specific to your nation, your best friend from Holland cannot empathise as much as your classmate from the UK. Practise speaking the language even when the stubborn locals respond in English because you only have a very limited time to improve your fluency. I strongly believe that the Erasmus experience was invaluable and has given me a heap of things to add to my CV. My advice to anyone taking or thinking of taking a year abroad is to start saving from your first year if possible, don’t worry too much if you can’t speak the language, arrive at least three weeks before term starts so you can orientate yourself and get accustomed to your new surroundings before all the students arrive. Buy travel guides and phrasebooks because the more you prepare the less homesick you’ll feel, join clubs that interest you, make friends with the locals and other international students and most importantly ENJOY YOURSELF! You’re a fresher again but this time in another country.
Here‘s an opportunity for you to gain first hand knowledge of the heritage of a European country whilst living its culture. The few bad memories I have quickly disappear when I remember all the fun and good times I had. If I could do ERASMUS again I would do it in a heartbeat.
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