UCL Student Storyteller Zoe Dahse shares her Erasmus experience.
I found out where I would be spending my Year Abroad, a compulsory component of my undergraduate degree, on a cold and bleak January day at UCL main campus and screamed. Madrid! With relief it would be close to home (not Latin America - albeit a cool option, this idea of spending a year so far away absolutely terrified me) I quickly texted my friends and family the news.
The UCL Study Abroad Team prepared us with pre-departure training, and I completed the rest of my second year with little thought to September.
Before I knew it, September had arrived, and I was boarding a flight to Madrid, a city I’d never been to before. Within days I found myself at home with the pace and life of the city, and felt absolute joy at hearing Spanish spoken on the street. It took me a couple of months to get to grips with it: I found Spanish people speak really quickly, and in the first few classes at university I really had no idea what the teacher was saying, so my first lecture notes were illegible and of no use to me. Thankfully I made friends with some Spanish classmates, who gave me theirs.
I also made friends with a fantastic group of girls I’m glad to still call my friends today. Together we went to Alicante, Valencia, Morocco, and made memories for life. We told each other everything in our flat kitchen, and I felt myself grow with love and admiration for these girls from all’over the world, united in our Erasmus experience.In the summer we did a cute little reunion road trip to Slovenia from Budapest which ended in a flat tyre in Ljubljana, a little bit of drama, and a lot of Lana del Rey therapy. I miss their presence and comfort in my life every day, and I’m looking forward to seeing them soon.
I also fell in love: albeit not in the typical way one might expect love to turn out (but that’s a story for another time). Not only with a country, culture and language, but with a person very special to me. When we met it was the first time I felt something so strong and powerful towards someone. No offence to British boys, but maybe the Spanish accent did it for me? Meeting him certainly helped my Spanish skills, as we tried to navigate language barriers, and cultural differences.
The heat was testing in May and June, but gorgeous the rest of the year, and the Spanish sun and cheap coffee did wonders on a cool February day.
During one of my modules, I interviewed a woman who had been imprisoned for rebelling against the Franco dictatorship, which was a fascinating experience for me and my first venture into interviewing someone. We are still in contact today, and meet for coffee every time I am in Madrid.
Overall, my year abroad allowed me to make friends from all’over the world. I learnt a lot about myself and what I want from life (without sounding overly cliché), and I would truly from the bottom of my heart encourage anyone who has the chance to try it out.
I’m returning to Spain in October to work for the British Council, and to further pursue journalism. I’ve been itching to go back all’year and am so excited for this next chapter in my life.
It still blows my mind that I would not be where I am today had I not absentmindedly decided to put Madrid as my first choice of Erasmus placement. It’s a city I happily called home for nine months of my life, and now hope to do so for much longer.
The full experience can hardly be summarised in this article, but it was one hell of a ride for me, and I’ve never felt more alive, inspired, and pushed to my limit in my life. I know I’m not the only one who feels like this - everyone I know who has done a year abroad has said it was their favourite part of their degree. Many of my friends are also choosing to explore the world further post-graduation because of their year abroad.
For any UCL student considering doing a year abroad, I wholeheartedly recommend it: it will push you out of your comfort zone and challenge you in ways you haven’t been before.
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