For all of you, who love to travel, are open-minded and are not scared of a little challenge, a year abroad is the right thing. But the question is: In which country?

In order to find the perfect place for your stay, you have to consider a few things:

First of all think about the countries you’ve always been interested in. Think about the culture, landscape and the people.Do you want to live in a country where the people live a pretty similar lifestyle to yours, or do you want to experience a completely new and different culture? You have to ask yourself if you’re more city- or the countryside-type. What climate do you prefer?…I’m sure lots will quickly come into your mind!

You’ll then have a great variety of the most different places with different cultures.

The next important question, which you should/could discuss with your parents or your legal guardian is, whether you want to spend your time off your continent. My parents for example, had no problem at all with me wanting to go to North America.

Do you want to learn a new language or do you want to improve your language skills of one you currently learn in school? This was the most decisive question for me. It was very important to me to improve and really being able to speak French fluently.

If you decide on the language aspect, your range of countries will decrease significantly. If you then still have to choose between great places, just throw on your computer or get yourself some books and really have a closer look on them.

If you already known or even have decided on an organization with which you want to do your year abroad, ask for some information. Most of them will have a really informative brochure about their program! The best thing to do would be to talk to people who have done a year abroad in the country of your choice.

If you really inform yourself about your chosen places, you’ll normally develop a clear preference for one of them. Just go with your gut!

If you consider all of these aspects, it should be easy for you to find the perfect place for your stay!

I hope this blog entry made it easier for you to decide on a place, or even made you curious to study abroad! Feel free to leave some comments!

Yours Birgit