"My year abroad was mostly spent in Russia, studying at a language school in St. Petersburg for the first half followed by a semester in Volgograd. After this I spent two months at language schools in Germany, one month in Düsseldorf and one in Dresden.

Without a doubt this time helped me to improve my language skills immensely - the chance to be immersed in the language and to form friendships with native speakers was invaluable, and it was this year out of the four of my degree which saw the greatest improvement in my language ability.

Culturally I was able to get to know both countries quite well, and developed an in-depth knowledge of each country's histories and social and cultural norms. In addition to this my confidence and social skills were built upon immensely: the year abroad was genuinely the most life-changing experience of my university career.

I am currently working for an airline in England as German-speaking cabin crew, and hope to move to Germany in the next few months - a move which in all likelihood I wouldn't have had the confidence to make if it had not been for the university year abroad."