Been there, done that, bought the Canada mug - 2 months in!

It's a little bit crazy to think I'm already 2 months in and more than a quarter of the way through my exchange year at Queen's University. At this point, I feel like I've started to find my feet on this Canadian adventure, with a good group of friends here and, probably just as importantly, a good schedule with keeping up with people back home. 

This time last year was about the time I really started to seriously consider taking a year abroad and looking back, I'm still not too sure what the biggest reason was that convinced me to accept the place at Queens, or even to go to Canada in the first place! 

So, why (or why not) do a year abroad? 

I think the biggest thing I've managed to take so far is the amount of free time I have compared to being at my home university. While it's not the same for all courses, I was allowed to take the Year Abroad as a pass/fail option to my degree, meaning that the module scores do not go towards my final degree classification. With this in mind, it's quite nice to not have to stress too much about going the extra mile. 

With the extra time, you get the chance to do some cool things! So far, that's been a lot of travelling around national parks and checking out the autumn vibes. With winter coming up, I'm hoping to see the Christmas feeling around Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal; with Niagara Falls also on my list of places to try and check out soon! 

Downsides? I think it's always going to be the feeling that you're missing things back home, especially a few weeks in when you're still settling in, but the initial new fun and excitement simmers down. Also, I think the downsides will likely hit stronger next year, when a lot of friends will graduate and it won't be as simple as just picking up where I left off. 

All in all? 

It's one year of your life. Who knows if you'll get another opportunity to see another country on the other side of the world. At least have something to reminisce on once you're stuck looking out of an office window.