The One With Advice For Next Year's Abroaders

I love this country more than Obama.

This week, the Year Abroad-ers from Exeter have been having a quasi reading week of sorts, sharing and prayer-ing for each other about our time in foreign lands thus far. Today, our communal task is to give advice to next year's intrepid adventurers. So, here is my advice!

Christian Life

First things first, do not beat yourself up about church attendance whilst abroad. No matter how much the Gospel unites us, churches in foreign countries are weird. Furthermore, travelling and exploring is an essential part of the year abroad and work and university commitments mean that the weekends are the prime/only travelling opportunity. Don't sacrifice adventure for church! (I promise I'm  not a heretic...)

Here are my ten key tips for being a Christian abroad:

1. Get a quite time routine and be strict about it. Of course reading God's word isn't a chore, but discipline is a virtue.
2. Don't spend ages searching for a church; find one, get connected, get some members on Facebook. That way, if you're not at church for x number of Sundays, they know why.
3. Send out monthly prayer updates to people back home, and be honest in them so they can pray for what you really need.
4. Try and find a Christian your own age who is around in your university/place of work/Erasmus group. (I totally appreciate this is harder if you're interning/work placement-ing).
5. Don't expect your Christian life at Exeter to be replicated abroad. Pray about why God has placed you where he has and what he might be teaching you. Whether we want to admit it or not, (our Facebook activity betrays us), we are in a Christian bubble at Exeter and that bubble being uncermonially burst whilst abroad is no bad thing.
6. Remember God is with you.
7. Remember God loves you.
8. Remember God knows you.
9. Remember God will protect you.
10. Remember God is bigger than the Boogey Man, he's bigger than Godzilla or the monsters on TV, oh God is bigger than the Boogey Man and he's watching out for you and me.

House looking/sharing/renting/student living

House searching sucks. Sorry, but it does! Canadians don't know the concept of replying to emails, and when they do, they reply in French. The legit French in Europe, I have heard, like to make your life as difficult as possible, and ladies: watch out for people seeking roommates willing to get involved in "art projects."

Other than that, student living is universal. You have no money, your classmates smell faintly of cheapo red wine and it's the best time ever!

Day-To-Day Life

I love life! I love Canada! I love my university life; I take great classes and have phenomenal friends and get to do the craziest, most exciting things ever - because I have thrown myself into things. The reason why my year has been so successful is because I broke with British reservedness and went for the tactic of talking to anyone and everyone. After a couple of times of doing it, it stops being nerve-wracking and starts being really fun.

Sure, the work load is much heavier than Exeter, but the unique courses here make it so worth it. Plus, the Exeter student is (sweeping generalisation) pretty similar. Here at uOttawa, there is genuine diversity and it's wonderful.

It's March. It's snowing.

Embrace the quirks and idiocryncrasies and little things of your year abroad. I live opposite a church which plays the same two songs on its bells every day - but I wouldn't change it for the world. It is a joy to wake up to. I love walking past the Angolan Embassy each day as I walk to school; I love how much bigger Coke bottles are here; I love the fact that I've finally learnt-ish how to cope at a bilingual university. I love my professors and my classes and my classmates and Canadian computers with " and @ keys reversed and poutine and Tim Horton's and hearing 'eh' and 'aboot' and seeing maple leaves everywhere.

If you don't learn to love the idosyncrasies of your place and embrace them, you'll find it much harder to settle in.

Country Specific Advice

The river runs with maple syrup, Mounties charge through the city atop of moose, and beavers lounge about the uOttawa campus. I wish. You want some Canada advice? Sit naked in a chest freezer snorting razor blades and you'll have some idea how cold it is.

Post Script

The year abroad has been unequivocally the best year of my life and there is not one thing about it that I would change. If you expecting or hoping to replicate your Exeter life, you will struggle. Go with no expectations but with a lot of determination. Don't waste the year - grab it by the metaphorical balls and go for it! God is with you - always.