Annie May
"Completing my Professional Training year abroad has been the biggest but most rewarding challenge I’ve faced and I’m so grateful to the support team of academics, friends and family for helping me get through it."
Course
Modern Languages (French and Spanish) BA (Hons)Entry year
2015Placement company
PGL, Northern France"It’s difficult to select the best parts of living at Surrey, as so many of my experiences have contributed to how settled and happy I feel at the University.
The people I’ve met have been amazing, and I’ve loved being able to share my Surrey journey with them. Whether that was them coming to visit me on my Professional Training year in Madrid, or celebrating throughout the year thanks to the social scene: we’re keen pub quiz-goers, and there are so many green spaces in Guildford to enjoy a BBQ or an afternoon in the sun.
Completing my Professional Training year abroad has been the biggest but most rewarding challenge I’ve faced and I’m so grateful to the support team of academics, friends and family for helping me get through it.
I first spent a semester at the Universidad de Comillas in Madrid, where I was able to study a range of modules in Spanish, including cinema and art. I loved living in Madrid and would move back there in a heartbeat. It was fantastic having to adapt to a new culture and also experience different content to that in my degree at Surrey. The whole way of life in Spain was so much more relaxed, but I had to work really hard on my studies and my Spanish improved so much as a result!
"The teaching experience was invaluable, and it’s made me so much more confident in standing up and speaking in front of people."
For the second half of the year, I worked for PGL in a small town in Northern France. It was hard work to rival the energy of a coach of school children every morning, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The teaching experience was invaluable, and it’s made me so much more confident in standing up and speaking in front of people, be that in English or French. I also loved living a five-minute walk from the beach and local French market where the produce never failed to amaze me!
In terms of other happy moments, I will always remember celebrating with my friends when they finished their final exams – and spending summery days down by the lake and in the gardens of Guildford.
Since starting at Surrey, I think I’ve become a lot more confident and resilient. I haven’t found university easy, but I wouldn’t change it for the world, and there has been enough support throughout my time here to always resolve things and keep me motivated in my studies.
My time at Surrey has been full of so many unforgettable moments, but has gone far too quickly! I was sold at my open day, and I will forever remember that ‘wonderful things happen here’…it’s certainly been the case for me!"
Discover more about our courses in languages, communication, translation and interpreting, including our BA (Hons) Modern Languages (French and Spanish).
