HCAU Profile: Aidan Dick
Name: Aidan Dick
Age: 21
Year: 4th
Studying: Law with Options in French
Today I met with Aidan- the newly elected President of Exchange ABDN and the Vice President of Lawyers Without Borders. He filled me in on his Erasmus experience, and gave some great advice for anyone going away or coming to Aberdeen!
HC: Hey Aidan, we’ll start off simple, tell me a little bit about yourself!
AD: I’m 21 years old and come from a small seaside town called Dunoon on the west coast of Scotland (#westisbest). I spent my third year studying in France, and I am going into my final year of studying Law with Options in French (even though I absolutely hate it and want to pursue a career in Marketing or PR). When I’m not crying over my seminar reading list, I’m either drinking gin, attempting yoga or napping so I’m basically an all-rounder.
HC: Gin, yoga, and napping- the dream life! So, you said that you had studied abroad in third year, what inspired you to want to go to France?
AD: Ever since I studied the basics of French language in primary school, I knew I wanted to study abroad. After struggling through French classes in High School and University, I then felt that I deserved it. If it wasn’t for my year abroad, I probably would have dropped out of university a few years ago.
HC: A year abroad definitely sounds like a great motivation to stay in Uni! Did you enjoy yourself when you were away?
AD: I studied in Lyon, France, and when I was allocated Lyon, I didn’t know much about the city but it has become my favourite city in the world which I tell everyone at every chance I get. It has the history and beauty of Paris, but without the rude, impersonal atmosphere. It is also the food capital of Europe – when I was in Lyon, it was often thrown about that ‘if you ate in a different restaurant every day, it would take you 10 years to complete all the restaurants in Lyon.’ I’m not sure how true it is but it’s certainly believable.
The one downside to my experience was the university. We ran into a lot of administrative hurdles which made studying French law, in French, in France that little bit more difficult. We also struggled to make native friends in our classes due to the competitiveness of the degree program there so most of our friends were either English, American or Irish. Would I do it again? Definitely – but I’d go into it with less expectations and have more experiences outside of the university.
HC: Having a bad experience with the Uni sounds tough, but it sounds like you made the most of it anyway which is great! We know that you’re Exchange ABDN’s newly elected President, so congratulations on that- what a great achievement going into your final year. Was completing your year abroad what inspired you to run for President of Exchange ABDN?
AD: This year I was on the committee of two societies – Lawyers Without Borders and Exchange ABDN – doing the social media and public relations for both. It was a lot of work but really worth while and loads of fun. When I was an Erasmus student in Lyon last year, I had an awful time with the university there so the social activities organised by the local Erasmus society made all the difference and helped me feel welcome in the city. I knew then that I wanted to bring that experience back to Aberdeen and so with the rest of the fab Exchange ABDN committee this year, we worked on amazing events for the incoming Exchange students. As the non-final year committee member I wanted to carry on that legacy and go bigger and better next year.
HC: That sounds great- I’m sure that incoming exchange students will benefit from the work that Exchange ABDN do over the upcoming academic year. I know that during your year abroad you started a blog which has recently undergone a bit of a revamp- so can tell us a bit about your blog, ‘My Petit World’?
During my year abroad I became one of those ‘omg let’s tell everyone about this fantastic time I’m having’ people and started a blog. It was originally called ‘White Boy Abroad’ and was mainly travel-themed since my friends and I travelled most weekends to a different European city. I didn’t have any expectations of becoming a famous blogger, I just wanted to keep my family and friends updated on what I had been up to and to keep a record of what I had done to read about in the future.
People seemed to really like my writing style and found my blog posts really interesting. I got so many lovely messages from people I didn’t really know telling me how much they loved my blog and asking when the next blogpost would be. Unfortunately it eventually felt like a chore and I hated it more and more and so gave it up for the best part of the year. However I recently rebranded and relaunched my blog with an aim to post more regularly about more general topics. I’m not really one to sugar-coat everything and make it seem like life is all rainbows and unicorns (I wish!) so I would say my posts are pretty honest, sometimes a bit too honest. If that’s your thing, check it out and let me know what you think: www.mypetitworld.co.uk
HC: It sounds like a great place to check out what the year abroad experience is really like- we’ll definitely keep up to date with it! As you have quite a lot of relevant experience do you have any advice for incoming exchange students?
AD: LEAVE WHILE YOU STILL CAN! Hahaha only joking. My advice would be to make the most of your time here. Make as many friends as possible, don’t be scared to chat to the native students – we’re all super friendly! Go on as many trips as you can, see the beautiful Scottish landscapes and take as many Instagrams as possible. And join Exchange ABDN! The students who came along to our events this year really loved how inclusive they were and how easy it was to meet other exchange students. Even as busy committee members, we made some lasting friendships with the Exchange students and love to hear all about them. Oh, and watch out for the seagulls – they are mutants.
Thanks Aidan- it was great getting to know you today, and we hope you have a great final year in Aberdeen. Can’t wait to see more blog posts and pub crawl pictures from the incoming exchange students in September!