Things I wish I could have told my year ago self.

As I sit on my terrace reflecting on the last 9 amazing months of my life and the experiences I have had, I've realised what I have been through and if someone had told me I would feel like this a year ago I wouldn't have believed them. Which got me thinking if I could have given my pre-year abroad self some advice, what would I have said...

Things I wish I could have told my year ago self

No amount of meetings, forms or internet articles will truly prepare you for the forthcoming 9 months. You'll be scared, worried and you won't want to leave but you'll be okay, yes you'll cry but you'd worry everyone around you if you didn't. The first few days will be hard and even at the end of your year abroad the thought of going somewhere new will still scare you, but you'll be able to do it easier.

At times you'll feel homesick and I mean that genuine sick to the stomach feeling that you just can't shake but you'll learn how to deal with it, how to make yourself feel better and indeed how to help others when they feel the same. This will make you appreciate home even more and know that when you get back things will still be the same.

You'll feel lonely and isolated but you'll also feel independent and worry free, everything balances itself out.

You'll have some of the happiest moments of your life and you won't ever forget the memories you have made. Well, except those you made after 1 euro wine or buckets of Sangria.

Your language will improve, at first you'll feel overwhelmed, you'll look blankly at everyone who speaks to you and hope they say it in English. But then you'll have moments where you'll think to yourself I can do this, where you are really proud of yourself, you'll handle issues at work entirely in foreign languages, you'll make phonecalls to solve problems. You'll forget that once you used to freak out buying a stamp.

You will make the best friends who will share some amazing experiences with you and become closer to those you already knew.

You'll spend an awful lot of time in airports, on planes and on trains. In fact at times it'll feel like you spend more time travelling than on your year abroad, bear with it, it's totally worth it.

Things will go wrong, just go with it, every experience you have good or bad is an experience, just take it as that.

Assignments from Hull University are going make you want to hit your head on the table, you'll get them done and end up with a pretty good mark, stress less, sunbathe more.

You burn, put on more suncream. You're more ginger than you like to think you are.

It will go so fast. You'll be sat on the penultimate day of your year abroad reflecting and wondering how it has disappeared so quickly, enjoy every moment.

Ultimately you're going to have the most amazing 9 months of your life. Enjoy it.

Someone once said 'The world is a book and those who don't travel read only one page' but someone else once said 'Home is where the heart is'. I like to think through my year abroad I've believed in both those sayings and when I leave I will leave a little bit of my heart where I've been so I will always consider them to be a part of me and a part of my home.