Anyone for a G ‘n’ T? :: Wessex Scene Online

Anyone for a G ‘n’ T?

24th January 2008
Olivia Hibbert

Rate this story

Feb 07 - Sipping sangria in Spain
May 10 - Southampton Students Risking Safety
May 09 - Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition
Mar 09 - ERASMUS: Discover What’s Out There
Feb 09 - The Travelling Bands, from Europe

More by Olivia Hibbert

Feb 07 - Sipping sangria in Spain

When I came to choose the G n’ T destination (a.k.a ‘Globe Trotting Destination’) of my year abroad, I had no qualms in opting for Barcelona.

Where the sun always shines, the sangria flows freely, the fiestas are legendary and the Mediterranean siesta is a prerequisite. It would be rude not to.

It certainly has a ‘holiday-esque’ feel to it, in the hustle and bustle of tourists strolling down the main street, Las Ramblas. Or the lazy Sunday afternoons, where the national sport is lolling outside cafes and restaurants, indulging in two of Barcelona’s greatest pastimes: procrastinating, and delving into the world of scrumptious tapas. Mediterranean delicacies willingly prise your hard-earned money away.

And so, as I was sat one day looking down from the window of my flat in Barcelona at mopeds nipping in and out of the cars, I contemplated how very different life was to the ‘real world’, and my thoughts went to my other G ‘n T friends stationed around the globe, intrepidly hiking up mountains in Bolivia, spending Christmas day on the beach in Mexico, sailing down the Amazon on a boat, and I thought: is this really a part of our degree?

A friend of mine recently mused, "It just sounds like a gap year with an official title" to which I hastily replied, "its not all plain sailing." Plumbing problems include explaining to a middle-aged Catalan couple that there is a hole in one of the bathroom pipes which has meant that all the water has been switched off in your flat and you need someone to fix it immediately. Spain practically shuts down on a Sunday; which means that it’s near impossible to find a loaf of bread, let alone an emergency plumber. And then, when your laptop decides to go to an early grave, try fathoming technical jargon that you barely know in English. As with everything, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly walk hand-in-hand.

"A year abroad increases employability" argue careers advisors. Certainly, the benefits stem from the huge variety of jobs, study opportunities and developed skills that students will take. But above all, stepping outside of one’s comfort zone forces you to become someone.

You will fully understand the concept of the ‘big bad world’, and there are disadvantages: the buckets of water that you will have thrown over you in the street if you dare to make noise outside someone’s flat late at night. But the Good? The people that you meet on your year abroad are some of the most fascinating people that you will ever meet. The experiences that you have will be amazing. You will laugh harder than even, cry more than you can ever remember but at the end of the day what makes a G ‘n T most appealing? After the first one washes down you always want another....