I only knew about submitting a Year Abroad plan because my loving roommate told me about it – I had spent the more recent meeting searching for vans for hire. Another loving friend sitting behind me videoed this for her Insta story and it became a running joke that I was looking for a van to drive to Namibia (where German is spoken, fyi). Should I be worried about what it says about my character that people actually believed me? It wasn’t helped by the fact that I did actually hire a van - two, in fact, to transport 16 rowing machines. Cambridge stereotypes alive and well.

When I submitted my Year Abroad plan back in February, I said that I was planning on studying in St Petersburg from September until Christmas, then embarking on an internship with a cool freelance magazine in Berlin for six months from January. This, as it turns out, was a bigger piece of nonsense than all my supervision essays put together. Uncertainties over Brexit got in the way of the internship and I never in fact applied to St Petersburg because first, I missed the deadline, and secondly, as we went into lockdown I had a ‘life is too short’ crisis and finally accepted that, well, I don’t particularly enjoy Russian.

“I had a ‘life is too short’ crisis and finally accepted that, well, I don’t particularly enjoy Russian”

Going into March, I had approximately zero plans for my year abroad, the uncertainty of which might worry some; but when you couldn’t predict even a week in advance due to a certain pandemic, I was fairly relaxed. This relaxation dipped slightly when the concept of a Virtual Year Abroad was mentioned. This doesn’t even need to have jokes made about it; it is one in itself.

As borders started to open and travel became possible, a frantic search for an internship ensued. Off to Germany I went, actually feeling quite glad to be out of the country. Of course, it was hard, thinking of all my friends back in college and dealing with a new relationship – one of the best things to come out of lockdown, hi babe – but I also thought, ‘the Germans have got it under control, they know what they’re doing, it will be fine’. Ha. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. In fairness, I did also think ‘the UK is not the place to be right now’, and I stand by this, although I’m not entirely sure where is.

I love Germany. I really do. Of course, there are the highs and lows. The good bits: my German has improved, the beer is cheap and good, I’ve met some cool people. The not so good bits: the weather being a bit miserable, turns out it’s a bit lonely when you know absolutely no one, the massive pandemic affecting literally everything we do.

“I’m lucky that ‘lockdown light’ in Germany isn’t so restrictive”

I’m lucky that ‘lockdown light’ in Germany isn’t so restrictive (I’m writing this on a train after visiting my supo partner in another city) so I can still see the pretty buildings, even if I can’t go into them. I can see one other person at a time, so we can drink away our sorrows together (this has already been done). I can’t go to the gym anymore so I’m going to start running again, as while my year abroad meetings were spent on the logistics of transporting rowing machines across Cambridge I didn’t imagine I’d need to do that across Europe. Quiet evenings can be spent sending yet more applications for the next work placement. And if I can’t find one, maybe I will rent that van to Namibia after all.

I’m not working from home, so I haven’t been faced with the choice of whether to return to the UK. Others (especially in France) have, although there hasn’t been quite the exodus there was back in March. This might be something to do with being ‘f****g done with the whole thing’ and not caring, or the fact that our Erasmus grants haven’t come through yet so no one can afford the flights. While we’re not getting the language exposure that year abroad is all about, or at least meant to be (cough cough virtual year abroad), maybe this will be the year that everyone gets their dissertations done early, written from the comfort of two weeks quarantine. I doubt it though; even in these unprecedented times, some things never change.

All jokes aside, it’s not the year abroad that anyone imagined, and it sucks. It’s tough for everyone, whether in Cambridge, abroad, or quarantining after a speedy return when new restrictions were announced. To my fellow MML students – we’ll get through this. To everyone in Cambridge – so will you. (Although maybe send your MML friends a quick message, it honestly makes us feel so much better). Shit happens, we move. Or rather, we would, but only when absolutely essential and wearing a mask.