Is a year abroad romanticised? The good, the bad, and the outright unforgettable

Though I have only completed one semester of my year abroad, with six months stretching ahead of me, I already feel like I’ve lived five different lifetimes—one for each month I have spent in Bordeaux, and one for the preparation before the adventure began.

Eight months before you move, the paperwork starts. You begin to drown in the bureaucracy of it all, your bank account empties at an alarming rate—long before you see a penny of your student loan—and the nerves and excitement settle in. You find yourself trawling the internet for advice, finding city tour guides and “Day in the Life as an Erasmus student” TikToks, but nothing can prepare you for the reality of the big move. So, is the internet one big black hole of romanticised content, or is there some truth to it all?

I’ve worked out my priorities, learnt how to lean on people when the going gets tough, and gained a renewed appreciation for immersion in a new culture

In my first week, I misunderstood the tram regulations and received a whopping fine of 72 euros, despite my best efforts at pulling the silly ‘British student’ card. My boyfriend pulled the door off our washing machine (300 euros down the drain!) and I ended up in a French pharmacy three times, Google translating every medical product in sight. My friend turned up in Bordeaux to a non-existent apartment, and we discovered that living above a restaurant brings mice to your front door. Not to mention the red wine I somehow got on the ceiling, and the drug dealer my other friend accidentally ended up living with. Oh, and my phone would not work. No texts, no data, no phone calls, and no French service provider would accept me—a problem I still have not yet solved. So no, it’s not all sunsets, warm weather, and good company, although those are all true too.

Yet, a year abroad is easily the best thing I’ve ever done.

I have the tightest-knit friendship group I’ve ever had, with friends from every corner of the globe—literally Australia to America, and many a European country in-between. I now trust myself to handle difficult situations in not one but two languages. There are opportunities at every turn, whether it be chances to learn, explore, or travel—you won’t catch me turning them down. I’ve worked out my priorities, learnt how to lean on people when the going gets tough, and gained a renewed appreciation for immersion in a new culture.

Going on a year abroad has allowed me to make friends from all over the world, and I’ve formed the closest-knit friend group I’ve ever had (Image: Bethany Sirianni)

Okay, maybe the bad that I spoke about before could be called ‘surface level.’ In reality, being away from home is not for the faint-hearted, especially when, in my case, during the second week of my stay, my dad was rushed into hospital with a brain tumour. Life doesn’t stop when you move abroad—in fact it ramps up, tenfold. Suddenly, you not only have one home and one group of people to think about, but two homes and two groups of people. Now you have to consider how you will get home in an emergency, make money, budget and set up an international bank account, set up legal contracts and bills, all in a secondary language. My friend’s water was cut off by a violent plumber—her landlord refused to pay any bills or adhere to basic human rights, and now she has to take legal action as he refuses to pay back her deposit. Moving abroad for a year doesn’t delay the real world—it brings it right onto your front doorstep. Move over childhood, here comes adulthood like a ton of bricks.

The people around me are rich in qualities, cultures and experiences I had not had the joy of knowing before, because I lived in my own little world

However, when the going gets tough, the tough get going: there’s no time to plant your feet and simply stop. After all, a year is a very finite amount of time to make the most of the best opportunity you will ever be given. At Warwick, I study two subjects: French and English Literature, but at the Université Bordeaux Montaigne I study six including Linguistics, History across three time periods, civilisation and cinema—the opportunities for study are endless. In Bordeaux, I make time for my hobbies—I’m learning how to take photos, remembering how much I love to read and write, and documenting my memories through my newfound love for scrapbooking. My priorities have shifted because my lifestyle has shifted. The people around me are rich in qualities, cultures and experiences I had not had the joy of knowing before, because I lived in my own little world. Immersing yourself in a completely new way of life: new sports teams, gastronomy, studies, cultural monuments, people, and ways of socialising—it truly opens up your eyes to the world in front of you.

That’s me at the Dune du Pilat—the tallest sand dune in Europe! (Image: Bethany Sirianni)

I have now travelled to Paris, Bayonne, and Biarritz with trips booked to La Rochelle and, hopefully, Porto. I have become a converted sports lover who goes to rugby, ice hockey, and football matches, and an individual who has a renewed social battery and goes out regularly (to those who know me, this one is a big shock). I have made memories to last a lifetime, sat on the banks of the river Garonne reminiscing with my best friends as the sun sets, strained my legs walking up the tallest sand dune in Europe after a 6am wake up, spent a weekend in a chateau, learning how to develop meaningful adult friendships, celebrated a 21^st birthday in Paris, started weekly apéro evenings, and hosted a true British Christmas for my new Aussie friends. Despite every day that I’ve sat with my head in my hands, grown frustrated about admin, or fumbled over French grammar, I’m no longer just existing, but truly living.

So, to answer the question, is a year abroad romanticised? In short, yes. However, it is the reality of a year abroad that makes the experience undeniably worth it. You will grow, recover old parts of yourself, find new interests and tastes, and gain lifelong friendships. It is good and it is bad, but it is outright unforgettable for all the right reasons.