Throughout my Erasmus year, via our Google+ and Facebook pages which I have contributed to regularly, I have been keeping up to date with other Enhancement Year students’ blogs who are either also on an Erasmus year or completing a year working in industry. A requirement of my International Enhancement Year module for Coventry University is that I review three other students’ blogs, comparing and relating their experiences to mine. I felt it would be beneficial for me to explore both those who have been doing an Erasmus year, attending a different university in a different country and also those who have pursued working in the industry. In reflection, despite all of us having very different experiences, there are undoubtedly some similarities between us and more importantly, we’ve all definitely grown a huge amount in both ourselves and paths of work; suitably developing us for our futures after university.
One blog I remember catching my eye early on in the year was Anna Green’s. Anna is actually in HUM at Coventry University, studying an English BA degree, although she is part of our MPA Facebook group page. She is currently doing an Erasmus year, studying a Chinese Language and Culture course at Zhejiang University of Media and Communication in Hangzhou, China. I was drawn to the fact she had gone to a university so far away from home and in such an unalike country to England. I was also intrigued that she is studying under a Communications category, as I have been at UEM. I was curious about this because, interestingly yet unfortunately, I found that Anna had also experienced trouble with initially choosing her classes to study. Like myself, she also found that she was left with limited options due to classes not being taught in English or available; perhaps the subjects which fall under the Communications category are not viewed with as much value in other societies, compared to the UK. Consequently, Anna was left with one official class to study. I also experienced similar with UEM; I completed three classes for the entire year as these were the only ones taught in English and most relevant to my interests. However, Anna has also taken full advantage of the additional Chinese language/culture classes that were offered to her and her timetable ended up looking quite full compared to mine. Unfortunately, I was not offered the equivalent of this and the only language course offered came with a high price, so myself and the others I live with had to source our own language tutoring for a cheaper cost. However, I feel that the lack of subject-specific classes has worked out well for both of us as I believe we have had the time to learn in other ways. We’ve been able to: fully experience different cultures and travel, learn the language of our host country and aid and develop our final year ideas in preparation for returning to Coventry University. Similarly to me, Anna details how she moved abroad with basic vocabulary knowledge in the native language. In reflection, it was promising that we had both made efforts to learn the language before moving. Learning any language is an incredibly useful skill to have and fortunately for us, both Mandarin and Spanish are two widely spoken languages which makes the skill even more valuable. As I read her claim in a blog post: “if I have not got my HSK3 exam certificate by the end of this year, then my time here is wasted.” It was clear to me that we’ve both had comparable goals; we want to attain a certain level of fluency in the language before returning to England. Personally, I would like to do this to feel as though I’ve fully embraced the culture I’ve been living in and to erase the language barrier – I feel as though I’m on route to achieving this.
View her blog here: https://thegreenfiles.home.blog/blog-posts/
Another blog which I’ve been keeping up to date with is Livy Dukes’. Livy is a student on my BA Photography course at Coventry University and she decided to complete a placement year by going freelance under her own company: ‘Livy Dukes Photography’. I was immediately intrigued by her blog as completing a placement year in the industry of photography is what I originally wanted to do even before moving to university. However, after speaking to lecturers and being encouraged to do an Erasmus year and hearing about how difficult it is to get a decent placement, I decided an Erasmus year would benefit me better in terms of improving my photography practice and obtaining cultural experiences.
Livy comments in her blog of how the purpose of her placement year was to get “a taste of what’s to come in the future” and build connections with people and I can strongly relate to this. Part of the reason I took the Erasmus opportunity was because I didn’t feel ready to go into final year, but mainly, because I felt I would benefit from embracing a new culture and having more free time with a less heavily academic course to improve my photography practice and to figure out ideas of what I want to do after university. I’m proud of how for all my photography project/shoots I’ve received no tutorial help which has helped prepare me for post-graduated life. I’m also satisfied how I utilised UEM’s set tasks to help build my portfolio and pursued photography projects/shoots independent from UEM. Additionally, I have definitely had the chance to make connections with photography businesses by independently engaging with them, getting work experience and submitting my work to them and taking part in exhibitions (hopefully in the near future).
It’s certainly impressive to see what Livy has managed to achieve: building a strong cliental through various jobs, gaining new photography skills, attaining an internship and attending networking events. All within the realms of what she wants to pursue – being a freelance photographer. As well as what I detailed above, I have also achieved a lot relevant to my interests such as: becoming more culturally and artistically aware through travelling (which has also influenced my photography projects completed whilst living in Madrid), learning the Spanish language and independently living abroad for the year. It also seems that in this time away from Coventry University’s heavily academic course, we both were able to practice and refresh ourselves with skills we’ve already been taught, e.g: Livy with the studio and myself with Photoshop.
It’s clear we’ve both grown in confidence as photographers and in our work by immersing ourselves in our communities and pushing ourselves to photograph in unfamiliar environments - adding to our portfolios and social media. Consequently, allowing us to feel more prepped for going into final year and the working world, which ultimately, is partly what this year is supposed to help accomplish.
View her blog here: https://www.livydukesphotography.com/blog?fbclid=IwAR3V1AT12keqHiiaXzbVhJGfDaI_C3Z1QRS-r6-VZnjbba_CjMtSm4qIZoI
The final blog to discuss which I’ve kept up to date with is Emma McGarry’s. Emma is also a student on my BA Photography course at Coventry University but has chosen to do her Erasmus year in Groningen, studying on a BA Fine Art course at Minerva Art Academy. I wanted to see the differences in undergoing specifically an art course, unrelated to photography and how it impacted her photography practice as I considered doing a similar course for my Erasmus study. I was also intrigued by Emma’s blog because the reasons she gives for doing the Erasmus year are similar to my own.
Emma states how she’s been able to engage with other art-related courses; consequently, widening her artistic skillset which hasn’t been available to me at UEM as it’s not solely an art-based university, so such courses don’t exist. Also, she’s been allocated her own studio space to work in, which has enabled her to easily meet new people and socialise. I would’ve appreciated these aspects, to see if they would have improved and inspired my photography practice, as they clearly have done with hers. Additionally, she’s documented how her university carried out an exhibition for her and her classmates’ work which industry professionals visited. She claims she was forced to talk about her artwork with confidence to strangers and this positively benefitted her. This is another aspect I admire of the university, as I too, struggle with public speaking about my work. However, UEM has proposed an exhibition of my classmate’s and I’s work with both an online exhibition via Flickr and hopefully a physical one displayed at the university. I have applied to be involved, although unfortunately due to the expectations of UEM, it sounds as though it’ll be on a less professional scale. Nonetheless, this has motivated me to pursue the conduction of my own exhibitions independent from the university such as the collaborative one myself and Kelly Bryan are planning with our photography project. Additionally, I will be distributing my own Madrid street art photography project through numerous zines. I aim to hand them out in summer in the different locations the artworks are in to passers-by. I believe these events will challenge me to improve my public speaking and exhibition skills; hopefully positively benefitting me. Also, this will be more helpful in preparation for the working world; having completed them in industry-relevant environments rather than academic ones.
Although there are aspects of Emma’s course that I respect and it’s clear she’s gained from them, I’m really pleased with how differently mine turned out. I’ve been forced to be academically and creatively independent outside of the university which has been more beneficial to me for post-graduation life. Additionally, I wouldn’t have liked the university workload it seems Emma has had as I’ve really benefitted from having more free time instead to embrace: my local community/culture in central Madrid, to travel, to go to exhibitions to view European art and pursue other photography interests.
View her blog here: https://emmamcgarryvisualart.wixsite.com/a-year-in-groningen/blog/?fbclid=IwAR3nebv1zgZbL6AlMTnyt4rRPcmtlFp5a2dngs5oL-ypwFhvrzdqzSmAUWc