Foreign travel changes life for Uni student

 

Satwant Kaur, from Wolverhampton, had only travelled as far as Birmingham before deciding to take the plunge and go to Sweden with Erasmus.

 

The 25-year-old admits she was quite scared of leaving her home for five months and had to mentally prepare herself beforehand for a year.

 

But the Design and Digital Media student, who has now completed her University course, is off to Hong Kong for nine months to teach English as a foreign language to children.

 

Satwant, who lived at home while she was studying, heard about Erasmus at the University and went to Sweden. During her time there she attended Jönköping University (JIBS) for a semester and lived in a student residential area with three other girls.

 

She said: “I was really scared of going far from Wolverhampton – the furthest I had been was Birmingham.

 

“Sweden was somewhere I had always wanted to go to. I just held my breath and went for it. But I had to mentally prepare for a year before that.

 

“It was a massive step for me and my parents, who were not used to me being away. But I learned so much about myself, about other people, how to manage my finances – so many things.

 

“Now I am going to teach children in Hong Kong after someone came into the University to talk about it. I wanted to see more of the world, see different cultures.”

 

International Administrator, Gill Fletcher, said: “The Erasmus Exchange Programme is a wonderful opportunity for students to spend a semester or a year in a European country. It allows them to develop both academically and personally as Satwant has proved.”