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Use all your senses every day

The university education programme - Erasmus, aided my first step to living outside Britain in Sweden. This was a brilliant first step since I was not entirely on my own. I got help with travel, banks, telephones and language classes. It was the best year of my life! On my return to Sweden after several years I found the integration a whole different ball game.This time I was entirely on my own and had to learn very fast. When you arrive in another country you should immediately start a language class. No good putting it off. It only gets harder to learn later! I met a lot of new people in my Swedish class, I also got a job within 4 months thanks to my hard efforts. It's not easy to learn Swedish, not because it's a difficult language but because the Swedes love showing off their brilliant English. I had to be determined and keep talking my bad Swedish in many situations during my first year. My biggest tip is to use all your senses every day. By that I mean sense the new culture and traditions you have adopted by watching and learning. Listen daily to your new language on the radio or TV, and read comic strips because they are somehow self-explanatory. I chose isolation too. I made no attempt to make English-speaking friends only Swedish-speaking. Now I have the equivalent of GSE Swedish, and work in a university with Swedish as my working language. I find it the most satisfying and challenging part of my job but I love being abroad because I'm constantly learning new things.

Sent by: Caroline

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