Hey, I’m Anoushka. I’m a third year French and Business Management student and I spent my year abroad studying at the University of Toulouse Jean Jaures in France.
Before moving to France, like many others I tried to research my way to feeling prepared enough to step away from the life I built here in the UK. I remember reading many travel guides and testimonials from people who had already studied abroad, then scouring social media for anything else that would fill in the gaps. Most of them seem to focus on what they did and how they found their exchange, so I thought I’d do something else and talk about three things I wish I did sooner. If you have any questions at all then don’t hesitate to message me at ad2n22@soton.ac.uk !
- Start your paperwork early!
I know everyone always says this, but I guess there is a reason why it comes up so much. I personally really struggled with coming to terms with the fact I was actually leaving which showed up in the form of procrastination. I booked my flight for September 1st hoping the reality would sink in, but the end of July crept closer and I had made no attempt to even start my visa application. I got incredibly lucky and managed to get my visa processed in 3 weeks with no waiting time at my visa appointment. However, my friend who had her appointment only a few days after mine ended up waiting 5 hours and she didn’t get hers in time for her flight. Safe to say I don’t recommend doing what we did, it’s a huge gamble.
Beyond getting a visa, there are a bunch of bureaucratic processes that take up more mental energy than you would expect. Things like housing insurance, choosing your modules and timetable, getting your learning agreement signed, sorting out bank accounts or phone contracts all stack up quite fast.
My advice is to start your admin about 2 months before leaving. Make sure you have a checklist of everything you need to do along with a separate list of all the documents you’ll need. I also recommend having both paper copies and digital copies of important documents, and don’t forget to bring some passport size photos!
- Join something as soon as you can
This was another thing I regret not doing sooner. To be honest when the term started, I got very overwhelmed and so I really struggled to make friends. We had an introductory day where people seemed to group up quite fast, my classes were full of people who had spent years together already, and there weren’t really societies at the university in the same way UK universities have.
A cool thing about my university was that we had the choice to pick up a sport as an extra module, and I ended up choosing salsa dancing. It seemed a bit random at first, but thanks to how close Toulouse is to Spain it’s become a popular dance style in the city. Outside of university I found a group called Toulouse Social Salsa. They organise free outdoor classes in different parts of the city followed by a few hours of social dancing which is where everyone dances with different partners throughout the event. It turned out to be the way I’d make a lot of my friends.
Even if dancing or sports aren’t really your vibe, I do encourage you to start an activity as soon as you find something that does interest you. Whether it’s a sport, volunteering, language exchange, politics or something else, having a shared interests gives you a very low stakes way to start conversations and connect with people. It’s also something you can look forward to every week, a great way to practice your language, or even something to add more structure to your days. You might even discover something new to love!
- Stop comparing your year abroad with others
Before leaving it’s common to have a mental image of what your ‘perfect’ year abroad looks like. For me it consisted of having action-packed days every day, frequent travel with friends, and constantly seeing my language improve.
Though I did have these experiences to an extent, I found it really easy to fall into the trap of comparing myself to my peers from Southampton and from Toulouse through social media. I’d see stories of friends going on picturesque getaways to nearby cities or countries or seeing perfectly written captions in the language of their destination and so I’d assume everyone else was doing better than me. In this mindset it’s easy to forget that you’re seeing everyone’s highlights and to feel as though you’re falling behind.
I had to remember that social media is full of highlights. Everyone adapts to life abroad in different ways, at different speeds with different priorities. For example, I made it a priority to only start travelling once I had gotten used to life in Toulouse and so I didn’t travel until second semester. I remember having a conversation with a friend about travelling and made a passing comment about how I was jealous of how she seemed to be travelling constantly. After talking about it I found out she was jealous about how I seemed to have settled into daily life a lot faster than her.
That conversation changed my perspective on how I perceived the so-called success of my year abroad. We’d both been quietly comparing ourselves based on online appearances, not realising that neither of us were doing better or worse but we were just prioritising different things which of course lead to different outcomes. It’s important to keep in mind that no two experiences will look the same and that’s okay.
If I could go back and tell myself these three things before moving to Toulouse, I know I would have felt much more prepared and enjoy my experience more. Every year abroad experience is different and you’ll learn your own lessons along the way, but I hope these tips help make your first few months a little less overwhelming and encourage you to enjoy it in your own way. Good luck and have fun!
