Rachel Bainbridge
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Integrating into French culture
April 27, 2015
My year abroad so far has not only opened my eyes to cultural differences with France and Spain, but also many other countries all over the world thanks to the people I have met. I can honestly say that, during the time I have spent in North West France, I have encountered few cultural challenges. …
German culture is very different
I was born in Ukraine, and moved to England when I was 7 years old. For me, comparing the German culture to the English and the Ukrainian, it is somewhere in between the two. Especially in the region where I study (Thuringia) as it is a former East German county, and has retained a lot …
Living like an Argentine
Living in a foreign country is exciting, adventurous and inspiring; pushing yourself and the boundaries to places and experiences previously unknown. But it can also scare the pants off you. Having chosen to relocate myself to Buenos Aires, Argentina, over 7391.32 km kilometers from England, I would be kidding myself into thinking that life would …
Seeing noticeable differences in fluency and comprehension
April 24, 2015
After three months of living and working in France I’m currently back in the UK for a week or so to catch up with friends and family over the Christmas period. This has also allowed me some time to reflect on how much I’ve done and just how far I’ve come in terms of improving …
I realised how far I’ve come
I hate making mistakes and I am terrible at taking criticism and being on a year abroad in Brazil, having only studied two years of Portuguese, I make about 300 mistakes a day. Most people are nice about it or don’t try to correct me but my class of 6 year olds take great pleasure in pointing …
I can access a whole other culture
During my first few months in France I was happy enough just to make myself understood. I was massively pleased with the relative easiness of setting up my rent, bank account and social security and I surprised myself in being able to get what I wanted from teachers/shop staff/the CAF officers. After nine years of …
Throw yourself out of your comfort zone
It was quite a daunting thought at the start of my year abroad that I was left totally responsible for my language learning for a full academic year. No assessments or weekly oral classes to check my progress. This is my sole chance to immerse myself in the local language and become as confident as …
Confidence is key!
My time in France so far has been a fantastic experience which has given me an invaluable opportunity to expose myself to everyday spoken French. However, when it comes to the immediate fluency that we all hope for, perhaps this is a little bit of an unrealistic goal for within the first few months. I …
Has your French actually improved?
One of the questions friends and family often ask regarding my year abroad is: “Has your French actually improved?” Ever since starting to learn the language back in secondary school, I have never been the strongest when it comes to speaking and listening in French. Even at uni, I struggled in oral classes and thought …
It’s up to you how much German you speak
Having arrived in Germany, I thought that I would be speaking German 100% of the time, however that turned out not to be the case. Being new in this country I think it’s only human nature to mainly communicate with people from your own culture or with people that are in the same position as …
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