law and erasmus | law course

The reality of departing to start my third year of university in a foreign country had been pushed to the back of my mind and did not really hit me until the day before I was due to depart. Feeling a mixture of excitement, anxiety and even a certain fear I loaded the car with my parents and set off on what was to become one of the best years of my life.
The first few weeks in a foreign country are a strange juxtaposition of new, exciting encounters and difficult and sometimes quite scary experiences. Meeting all of the other Erasmus and International students is fantastic. The mix of cultures provides an insight into life in other countries across the globe.

It is also reassuring to know that you are not the only student having trouble understanding the lectures or struggling to adjust to working in a foreign language all of the time. Looking back, the scarier experiences were perhaps not as bad as they felt at the time but that is hardly reassuring for those about to embark on an Erasmus year.

Sitting in a lecture, wondering what the lecturer is talking about and watching everyone around you furiously scribbling down notes is somewhat unnerving. What is worse is having to speak up in a seminar where not only are you not sure you have the right answer, you're not even sure that you have understood the question.

However, before those of you about to undertake an Erasmus year start to have second thoughts, let me tell you about some of the things that made my Erasmus year so great.

Erasmus isn’t all about working; of course, you have to do enough to pass and a bit more than that always goes down well, but there are so many other things that make Erasmus what it is. I spent my year in Grenoble, close to the heart of one of the largest ski areas in Europe. For me this meant snowboarding or skiing at least once and often twice or three times each week of the season.

Other countries and locations all have their own attractions. Students in Grenoble who joined the university snow sports society received heavily discounted rates at local resorts making the Erasmus grant, a substantial amount to begin with, go a lot further.

That brings me to the funding: The Erasmus grant, in 2007/08 roughly £3000, meant that the year abroad cost very little in relation to what I got. All in all, Erasmus works out to be great value for money.

Accommodation and cost of living in foreign countries is often much cheaper than in the UK and added to that is the fact that most UK universities don’t make you pay any fees during your Erasmus year, either to them or the partner institution.

Another great benefit of undertaking an Erasmus year is the travelling opportunities it creates. Not only was I able to travel all over France but having friends undertaking Erasmus and placement years elsewhere in Europe meant I was able to travel to Switzerland, Spain and Austria during my time abroad.

However, I think the best thing I returned from my Erasmus year with was the knowledge that I could live and get by in a foreign country by myself. If you can do an Erasmus year then there is very little left in terms of life experiences that will scare or intimidate you.

There might, at this point, be certain readers asking ‘This all sounds great but how does this all help in getting into my chosen career?’. The answer to that question is, in my eyes, quite simple. Students who have undertaken an Erasmus year are individuals with much broader horizons and often more ambition.

They are people who seize opportunities and make the most of them and I think that this will be evident to any interviewer regardless of the career path you choose. Furthermore, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the year abroad demonstrates an ability to live and work independently as well as the capacity to adapt - something all employers will be keen to see.

It might seem that a year abroad is a year longer to wait until you are qualified, however, the year provides an opportunity to reflect on what you want to do when you graduate. For me this meant that I realised I didn’t want to go straight to the Bar after university but rather I want to return to a francophone country to work and gain commercial experience.

An Erasmus year might seem to some an extended holiday, but approached properly and taken as a whole experience it is a valuable year that I would encourage every student to do.

By Tom Mountford
Graduate, University of Kent

19-09-2009