Choosing Study Abroad
When deciding whether to do a year abroad, there is a lot to consider, and it wasn’t a clear decision for me at first. On one hand, I thought about how incredible it would be, but it is a huge change, so there was a lot of pros and cons for me, which I discuss below.
Doing a year abroad is adding an extra year to your degree and some people may just want uni to be over and done with, I personally like the idea of postponing leaving uni and getting a job. On top of this, with a year abroad you are starting again from scratch, knowing no one or the place you are, however I have really enjoyed this. Exeter does start to feel small so living in a whole new place has been exciting.
As much as what your friends are doing shouldn’t impact your decision, I do think it’s something to consider. The idea of not being with some of my friends fourth year was heartbreaking, and I do miss them so much. However, you make so many friends during the exchange and can still call home friends all the time.
Depending on the country, you will most likely have to learn a new language. Although your course will most likely be in English and all the exchange students and some normal university students do speak English. My Finnish learning is not going as well as I would hope, but maybe by the end I will know more than just kiitos which means thanks.
Another decision is whether to do the whole year studying, working or a mix of both. I decided to study first and then work. Doing both is a lot more work as you have to find a job and do the study abroad application, on top of that, you have to go through the visa, renting process twice. However, I thought doing both would give me good work experience while also seeing what student life is like in another country.
I realised I wanted to do study abroad late so wasn’t enrolled on the course already, but changing to a year abroad is as easy as filling out one form. You will be a lower priority when country selection is taking place. When applying for study abroad, you have to accept the idea that you may not get your first or first few choices, but wherever you end up, you’ll definitely have fun.
Where to go
Once you have decided that you want to do a year abroad, you have to decide where to go. I would start by looking through the list of possible options and removing all the destinations you know you wouldn’t want to go to, leaving you with a list of places you would be happy to go. I had around 12 at this point, which is the amount needed for the application form. Next, I decided on a list of criteria I could rate each place on. I choose cost of living, happiness, aesthetic, ease of travelling there, walkability, nightlife, and activities.
Cost of Living
This was a huge factor, as moving abroad is already costly enough. To figure out the cost of living I focused on a few areas: rent, transport and food. I compared rent with what I pay in Exeter, searched the average food shop cost and cost of public transport. I then ranked each place based on the averages I had calculated.
Happiness
For happiness, I looked at the happiness index, political and social climate in the specific country.  Just because a country has a high happiness index doesn’t mean you will be happy, but it usually indicates there is a high quality of life there.
Aesthetic
For this criterion, I simply googled pictures of the city and thought about whether, aesthetically, it was somewhere I would want to live. I love that Exeter is so green and didn’t want a dismal grey city. Overall, I think most European cities are beautiful and all of mine on the list I thought were lovely, so this didn’t really help me narrow down my choices, but did make me even more excited to go.
Ease of Travel
Location, location, location. From the beginning, I knew I wanted to study in Europe for a few reasons. The cost of flights, visa and insurance is significantly cheaper. Also, being so close means that some of my friends will come to visit me, which I am very excited about. Also, being in central Europe means you can visit other parts very cheap on trains and buses. For example, I’ve been to Stockholm and am planning to go to Tallin.
Walkability
Exeter being so walkable is one of the reasons I love living there, so I realised I would prefer a more walkable city, or at least one with cheap, reliable public transport. I first looked at the size of the places and how easily you could get around without any public transport. I then looked at the price and comprehensiveness of the public transport. I ranked the more walkable ones higher, and then with the larger places, how comprehensive the public transport was.
Nightlife
Exeter nightlife is not known for being the best, however I do love it. Controversially, Fever room 2 is my ideal club playlist and of course Spoons is the best pub. I was so excited to go to a new city and discover new clubs and bars. For each place, I researched what type of bars and clubs there are, how many there are and what people say about the nightlife.
Activities
A driving force of wanting to study abroad was the idea of exploring a new place I’d never been to. As soon as I got my acceptance, I went out and bought a Lonely Planet Guide for Helsinki. I wanted a place with lots to see and do, so for each country, I looked at the main sights and attractions. TikTok is a really good place to find tips and recommendations for a country.
After ranking each place based on the above criteria, I found their overall average to give me my final ranking. Finland, for me, was not ranked very high by my criteria, however I just had a feeling that I really wanted to go there, so on my form put it second.  I am currently a month into my study abroad in Helsinki and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I would highly recommend studying abroad.