What on Earth was I Thinking? Je ne sais pas quoi!

When I signed up for a language degree aged 18, I had several ideas in my head about the year abroad involved: either Erasmus would remain a novel idea that would never really need to happen; or time would stop somewhere between first and second year and that going abroad would always be something in the distant future; or finally that the 20 year old Jess would be fully prepared for the idea of moving to a foreign country with a completely different language...

The 20 year old Jess has since had various thoughts about the 18 year old who put her in this predicament. She has wondered how someone could be so hopelessly naïve, stupid, and blasé about such a huge decision. The application is time consuming, some of the bureaucracy is expensive and the time spent generally pondering all the uncertainties of the year to come, if considered while filling out UCAS, would more than likely have meant I would not be finding myself now sitting quite comfortably on my English bed feeling so unbearably excited about the future in Lille, France.

I took this photo of Centre Grand Place in Lille a year ago. I had this put onto a canvas which is above my bed having no idea I'd be applying to Lille for my year abroad, let alone actually calling this home for almost a year.

Whether or not the 18 year old me made a good decision, I don't yet know. I hope (and am growing more and more sure) that she did- and if you want to know, keep reading this blog!