One of the earliest decisions you’ll have to make about your Year Abroad is which path you want to take: teaching with the British Council; studying at a partner university or finding a work placement or internship. It’s tough to know what you want to do, but chances are your Uni has set the timer on your decision. Panic sets in. Here are a few things you might want to consider when you’re making the choice.
Before you set your sights on a particular city, even a particular country, you should probably take a second to consider how you want to spend your time. It’s great knowing where you want to go, but knowing what you want to do there? Not so simple. And even if you’ve already decided where you want to be, you have to consider whether that city or country offers the path you want to take.
Work Placements and Internships
I’m not proud to admit it, but I’m a prime example of the jump-the-gun mistake. In the summer after first year, I visited Paris for a few days. That was it - the decision was made. That’s where I’d spend my time in France. It didn’t even cross my mind that it might be hard to find a job in one of the world’s most competitive cities. To add insult to injury, I was dead set on working in Berlin for my second semester. Same mistake, different city. Now don’t get me wrong, a lot of my course mates have found great jobs in capital cities - Paris, Vienna, Berlin etc. But I applied for 35 jobs in and around Berlin before I decided that the process would be a lot less painful if I widened my search. Narrowing your search to a specific city isn’t impossible, but it’s just that - narrow. If you’re looking for a specific kind of job, looking for it in a specific city is going to be hard. I decided to let go of my Dickes B dream so that I could find a job I had experience in, and I got myself a placement at a firm in Munich - an equally beautiful city. My advice is that if you’re dead set on a city, be flexible about the work that you do. If you’re not flexible about the work you do, be flexible about where you do it.
Studying
Alternatively, you could check whether your University has a partner Uni in the city you want to land in. Most Universities are partnered with at least one University in the capital cities of big countries (Germany, France, Spain etc). The bonus here is that the application process for a partner university is a lot simpler than looking for a job, and in most cases, you’re guaranteed a place by your home Uni. One you’re in, you’re in. I gave up the job search in Paris and settled on studying at the Sorbonne. Not a bad decision, considering I didn’t have to do any more laborious Skype interviews or form-filling. The only downside is that I settled on not receiving an extra income… in one of the world’s most expensive cities. Every silver lining has a grey cloud though, right?
If your Uni doesn’t have a partner in the city you want to be in, and you can’t find a job there which you have experience in, then you’ve got the two same options: look in other cities, or look for other jobs.
I won’t say that studying abroad won’t be taxing - none of the three options will. But at most universities, the grades you get in your exams don’t count towards your degree - you just have to pass. In some cases, if you fail, you can even pass so long as you can prove you tried. Don’t let this fool you into thinking it’s another first year though, your uni will probably be very stringent in checking that you’ve tried.
Teaching
If you ever attended a Languages Open Day before you came to Uni, you probably heard the glowing reviews of being an ELA (English Language Assistant) abroad. They’re not wrong. You get paid, the hours are great if you want to travel and socialize, and it looks great if you want teaching experience on your CV.
However, if we continue the thread of setting your sights on a specific city, then be aware of ELA. When you apply, you are asked if you have a preferred area. Do not take this to mean that you will automatically be placed there. Some candidates (who spend hours writing a very compelling account of why they want to be in that area) are placed in their desired county, Bundesland, Province etc. That said, if we take three of my closest friends as an example, all of which applied to ELA:
Friend One applied to Bavaria, wrote a compelling application about why she wanted to teach in Munich, and was placed in Munich.
Friend Two also applied to Bavaria, wrote a compelling application geared toward Munich, and wasn’t placed in Munich, but was placed in Bavaria.
Friend Three applied to Bavaria, but was placed in Düsseldorf - at the other end of Germany.
Luckily Friend Three wasn’t dead set on Bavaria, but just be aware of setting your heart on a city if you’re choosing to teach.
It’s also important to remember that the British Council’s system of placing candidates is very long - the majority of candidates won’t find out where exactly they are until the middle of the summer. Some don’t find out until a few weeks before they have to leave. This can make things really tough with finding accommodation, so if that’s something that worries you, you’ll have to weigh the financial and social benefits of ELA with the potential problems with location and accommodation.
The best thing to do is decide what you want to do before you think about where you want to do it. It’s much easier to decide where to go when you know what you want to do there. If you, like me, know that you don’t want to teach, then you should think about which Universities are available to you, and where you’ll be able to find a job. If you’re choosing ELA, you’ll need to be prepared either to spend a while writing your application, or let go of the idea of getting your dream city. In all honesty, this step is about flexibility and compromises, but also knowing what you want. At the end of the day, you need to figure out what will make you most comfortable, and go from there.
