I've been e-mailing with a Spanish girl who had a few questions regarding a year in England. Having a passion for writing, I ended up writing her a super duper long reply. Reading through it after I'd sent it, made me think that maybe my experiences and advices could be of interest for more than just one girl?
Here are parts of the e-mail I sent her, excluding some bits so it may look a little random.
Ok, so I paid around €8250 for the year. Can't remember the exact amount, and we don't have the Euro currency in Norway, so the price is only approximate. I'm not sure about the educational loan fund in Spain, but I got a scholarship of €6250 from our Norwegian loan fund. It may be the same in spain, I'll exaplain to you where this money derives from - because Norwegian students require a three year high school education (free of charge), you are given this money when you leave your country (within the three years of high school) to go to school in another country. Did that make sense to you? Anyway, I suggest you call your local EF office in Spain, they will explain everything you need to know about the Spanish loan fund system to you, how to apply, deadlines etc.
Out of all exchange students, I believe I was very lucky regarding making friends. As you may have understood from my video, I was placed on an island (Isle of Wight). Even if there were five high schools on the Island, we were 12 EF students going to the same school. Since we had all been at the pre-camp (some of us for 14 nights and others arrived the night before departure to host cities and families), we got to know each other on the way from Winchester (the British EF camp) to the Island. Since we had over a week before school started, we got to know each other pretty well! Plus, there were some guys in the year above us who expected our arrival, so they made us feel very welcome, arranging sleepovers, beach parties etc.
Since I've been working for EF since I got back from England in 2011, I've been conversing with a lot of soon-to-be Norwegian EF students! They are all wondering how to make friends. The easiest (and the most stupid) advice I can give, is: smile! Even if you're insecure about your English, even if you have no idea how to even start a conversation with them, just smile and say 'Hi, how are you'? Imagine if you had a foreign student at your school, you'd understand he or she was nervous, but wouldn't you be much more interested in that person if he or she smiled at you? In the beginning there are plenty of conversation starters though - ask about teachers, text books, homework, where can I find the toilets, etcetc. I assure you people will be friendly!
For me (and for the other EF girls), it was much easier to make friends with boys. I'm not sure why, but English girls can be really tricky. Throughout the whole year, I only made one British female friend! Of course I had girlfriends, but I only made one proper friend who was female. I think the girls at my school were a bit intimidated by the EF girls - we were new to the Island, we came from capitals and big cities (Oslo, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Hamburg), whereas they were from the countryside, plus they had known each other for years. So that could be the reason behind their not-too-friendly attitude. It wasn't really that they weren't friendly, I just felt they weren't too keen on actually getting to know us. But to be honest, it didn't bother me much. Some people were even saying to my British friends, "Why are you friends with them, they'll be gone in less than a year and then you'll be all sad". Pathetic, huh? If only they knew what they were missing, not making friends with foreign people! Oh, well :-)
So, to the English school system. The good thing about coming to a new school as an exchange student in England, is that you start in the first year of Sixth form (year 12).
High school: year 9-11
6th form (College, or A-levels): year 12-13
So in year 12, most of the other students will be new to each other as well! Depending on the size of the town, some people will have known each other for years, whereas a lot of people will be new faces to everyone!
Especially in the beginning, I felt like I was annoying everyone around me; I didn't understand anything, and I had a horrible accent. In one of my classes I was sat next to this British girl. She was so sweet to me, she also offered to help me understand our homework after the lessons. I was convinced she was desperate to get away from me and hang out with her friends! So I felt very embarrassed, though she was nice to me. I never believed it was genuine, until I realised she was, like me, also new to the school! She didn't have any friends either, and was thinking the exact same stupid thoughts like I did! So this girl's named Hannah, and to this day she is one of my closest friends. I've been to see her in England three times after I left, and she's been visiting me in Norway three times as well!
The Sixth form system is quite fascinating, almost like going to university. You only have three subjects a week! The lessons are longer (we had one subject before lunch, and one subject after). Say your day is from 09:00 - 15:00. You have two 'blocks' everyday, one before and one after lunch. Five school days will make 10 blocks a week. Each subject has two blocks a week, you have three subjects, so that makes six blocks! What do you do about the remaining four blocks? You have study periods! So a large amount of your school day consists of self studying. You need to stay in school during these periods, but your teachers will rate your performance in class. At the end of each half term (in Britain they have one week off every sixth week), if your teachers consider your study routine tidy enough, they'll let you spend your study periods at home!
Since you're only doing three subjects, it goes without saying that you'll get in depth. I loved our long sessions, because it helped me concentrate on the task I was given. In Norway I could have up to five subjects a day, running from one classroom to another all the time, way too stressful! So yes, I did prefer the British school system. But your teachers do expect a lot from you, especially since you are given such a great amount of study periods. No one is going to ask if you've done your reading homework for today, and no one is going to push you for that essay you forgot to hand in last week. It's all up to you! It IS tough work. You DO need to study hard. By the end of the year, you aren't given any grades or results from your teachers. They are only there throughout the year as advisors - it's your performance on the final exams that count.
I did Philosophy, Religion and Politics & Government, which were all very heavy subjects, because there was an awful lot to read and write. I did get quite skilled on writing good essays, though! Depending on what subjects you are required to do by your Spanish school (not sure if you're doing a gap year and do the year over again when you get back to Spain, or if you are going to take the year in England instead of one in Spain, like I did), I would advice you to pick one inspiring and fun subject! For example photography, art, music etc. Could be great fun!
Regarding money, my parents gave me pocket money every month. This is normal, because it's almost impossible to get a job in England when you're only there for 10 months. I was given more money from my parents in the beginning, for necessities and such, there are always thousands of things to spend your money on once you get to a new place. I got €250 a month, which is way too much! Although I did manage to spend it, but since it's so cheap in England (much cheaper than Norway anyway, the land of expensiveness), I got great value from my Norwegian money.
Thing about money - I quickly learned how money is an incredibly private issue. I remember one of the first weeks, I got home from town and told my host mum about "my cheap shorts I got in Topshop today, they were only €35"! She was blown away I had spent so much money on a pair of shorts, and I felt a little uncomfortable. People know that foreign students are in good financial situations, and where I lived, people generally didn't have too much to spend. Some people literally had to scratch their pockets to be able to pay for their bus tickets. I remember one friend who always used to hang around town, he had to beg people for money in order to get on the bus home. So! EF students are economically priveliged and it's nothing to be ashamed of, but it's definitely not something to talk about either!
Realised this email is getting sooooooo long, I'm sorry. I hope you're not bored. I just have a passion for writing e-mails and advicing people. Especially when it comes to a possible exchange year to England!
So my host family - I would say the typical host family is the American host family. In America, European students are exotic and it's almost a privelige for the American family to host a foreigner. They aren't given any financial support either. I think exchange students in America become much closer to their host families, than students in England do. English host families are in fact given a small finanacial support, which is meant to cover things like electricity and food. Unfortunately, some families in England take advantage of this. They see the money income before they see the student, which is a great shame. I had to change host families once, but not for any of those reasons. My first host family was lovely, they were an old couple who really were interested in me, they cooked great food and were lovely people.
Unfortunately, the conditions weren't the best. My bus was only running once an hour (far from town), they had no internet (I had to fix this myself, the signal was so bad I couldn't even use Skype or Facebook chat), they were almost 70 years old and they watched TV all day. Plus! Haha, there was no signal in my room. Like, no signal, not even mobile signal. So I had to move, and it was the most heartbreaking thing telling them. Luckily they understood my situation :-)
So I moved in with a Dutch girl (also EF student) and her family, right in the middle of town. Yay! I had very few problems with them, I could speak about anything and we had great fun together. Hannah (the Dutch girl) and I could come and go as we wanted, as long as we let them know if we were home for dinner or not. But we were both busy with our groups of friends and our new British boyfriends, so our host family's function was more or less like a 'Bed and Breakfast' place. But they were really cool to us, let us go out whenever we wanted, throw parties, and they would listen to us if we had anything on our minds.
If you happen to feel uncomfortable in your host family, you may think of moving place. People will give you so many arguments why you should stay in your host family. My advice is: Address your problem, DO try and make things better - whether it is communication, location, food, house rules or whatever. DO speak to your host family about your problems - they are there to help you. You cannot expect your surroundings to change if you aren't willing to change yourself. HOWEVER: If you find yourself spending more and more time outside your hostfamily, and if you feel like your current family situation is dragging you down regardless, if you start to feel depressed when you are home - do change your host family! You, you and only you are the only person to know how you feel. This is supposed to be the best year of YOUR life, and the responsibility is on YOU. Don't let anyone make the choice for you, they can't know how you feel. One student can be 100% satisfied and happy in his or her family, whereas another student can be absolutely miserable in the same family.
The thing about a host family though, is that your biological parents love you unconditionally. A host family doesn't necessarily :-) Because we didn't have any duties at home, it was important for us to keep our rooms tidy, in order to show our host parents that we appreciated what they did for us. My only duties were to let them know if I was coming home for dinner, let them know if I was staying the night somewhere else, plus keep my room clean. Not much to ask for! Also - I don't know about your culture, but in Norway it's very common to bring friends home for dinner. That really wasn't the case in England... Unless our host parents invited someone around for dinner, we didn't just bring people around.
I have indeed kept in touch with my friends! I've visited three times since I got back, I had my boyfriend over (before we broke up), My friend Carro from Stockholm has been to visit, I've been to visit her, my friend Hannah (not the Dutch host sister, but the other) I mentioned has been here, my friends Fred and Rob have also been to visit. I feel so blessed for having such an international group of friends surrounding me!
Hope you found this helpful if you happen to consider a year in England. If so, share it with friends or in forums! As an internet addict, I'm also an active user of plenty of platforms.
You can visit my Norwegian blog - PILIOKO
And you are also free to check out my Instagram - GLOSIN
Please do leave a comment if you read this, tell me your age and location, it would be interesting for me to see! Have a great day! Leaving you with this photo of myself, riding a British double-decker bus.
Ida
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