As a language student, I got to spend the third year of my degree studying internationally to improve my language skills. Later, it turned out a year abroad was a great source of content!
So this is my year abroad. This is me, aged twenty, living in western Switzerland, learning French grammar at 8 o’clock on Monday mornings and spending my considerable free time exploring my adopted homeland, learning to travel solo and learning a lot of life skills along the way. Join me in Neuchatel to see Switzerland.
I’ve got another installment of my Year Abroad tales. I was looking at my Switzerland map and there’s a lot of empty space on it. Where else have I been? I didn’t cover as much of Switzerland as I thought when I was living there, I didn’t go into much depth and I don’t remember… More Year Abroad: an expedition to Appenzell and St Gallen
It’s a new year – although we’re nearly three weeks in by now – and as everyone will probably have eaten their body weight in cheese in the last month, let’s talk about a bit of Switzerland I apparently haven’t told you about yet. Today I’m going to Gruyères, the small fortified town where Gruyère… More Year Abroad: A non-cheesy afternoon in Gruyères
You know how this goes. I was a language student; I had a compulsory year abroad immersed in my target language and I lived in Switzerland and attended a French language school. I lived in Neuchâtel, an hour or so from the French border in western Switzerland which is why I only made it to… More Year Abroad: sunny Lugano
We’re going to talk about my year abroad again! Specifically, the beautiful summer day in – well, I’d tell you but my photos are tagged Jan 1st 2001 and I didn’t write a diary. Anyway, it was the summer of 2005 – when I took a very scenic train ride to Arosa, a former health… More A scenic train ride to Arosa
I know, this is unseasonal but it’s so hot, don’t you all want to see some snow? I know I’d kill to be rolling around in it right now. This is a story from my Year Abroad and we’re specifically going back to January 2006 when my triplets and I went to the International Balloon… More A day at the International Balloon Festival at Château-d’Œx
It’s September, it’s back-to-school season and although all that means to someone of my age is that it’s time to go back to Brownies, I thought I’d give you a quick tour of my year abroad student room in Switzerland. That’s partly because this is a travel blog and partly because I had a film… More Year abroad student room tour
Of all the stuff I did on my year abroad in Switzerland all those years ago, the Pilatus Golden Round Trip was probably my favourite. It’s Switzerland in microcosm, the best of the entire country all in one beautiful day. You start out in Luzern, which I’m obstinately spelling the German way, even though in… More The Pilatus Golden Round Trip
We’re going a long way back today. This is from my year abroad, when I was studying French at the University of Neuchâtel. I spent every free minute exploring Switzerland and our day in Zermatt was one of my favourite adventures. It was the depths of winter. In fact, it was November 26th 2005. In… More Stay At Home Storytelling: a cold day in Zermatt
I’ve mentioned, ooh, about ten thousand times that I possess a degree in French and Spanish. A Modern Foreign Languages degree course, for an average student-age student, includes a mandatory year abroad in a country where your language is spoken. Or it did in my day, when we were a member of the EU and… More Stay at Home Storytelling: A day in the life of an international student
I’ve talked about my year abroad before – mostly in terms of the travel I did between my work and the places I went. I did a degree in French & Spanish. I don’t really speak any Spanish anymore; my French is a little better than I’d expected it to be. If you’re a normal… More How I survived studying overseas