By Pamilla Kang, UCSD, USA Sorry to break from all the great blogs about travelling and being abroad, but I’m back in Manchester and it’s about bloody time I reflect on my year abroad and moving back home.  Turns out, it’s not as easy as you’d think moving back to Manchester after a whole year abroad. I actually found it quite hard the first few weeks of being back – I was a bit down and restless. At first, I wasn’t really sure why because I was really excited to move back, but I gradually realised that the change of moving universities and having very different lives within a year…

Here’s a video of just one of my days in Southern California. Taking videos and pictures is a great way to document travels, and its been quite fun looking back through them and making collages! Definitely missing California now…  

I don’t know about you, but I’ve grown tired with social media over the past year or two. Maybe it’s an early twenties life crisis, or maybe social media really has changed for the worst in the past few years. I just find that platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook have become superficial, in that people post things to show that they’re always doing amazing things or seeing amazing things, rather than posting content or photographs that they’re proud of. Am I being cynical?

By Pamilla Kang, UCSD, USA I’m guessing that people are starting to think about where they’re going to live on their year abroad, and the first big decision is whether you want to live on or off campus. This can be a tough choice and honestly, both have their pros and cons. The best thing about living on campus is that it’s much easier to make friends with people, since you’d automatically be living with other students. This means you’ll always have people to hang out with right from the very start of the year – it’s basically like first year living again. This is especially ideal if you’re going…

Pamilla Kang, UCSD, California, USA This blog is about… you’ve guessed it, finances on a year abroad.  I’m sure everyone reading this is aware that a year abroad costs a lot of money, but I don’t think I realised just how much living in another country could cost! So, this is my warning and advice to all my future year abroad people out there. Save money…and then save some more. This one is pretty self explanatory and obvious, but basically, make sure you try to save as much as you can before you move abroad. Be aware / beware of costs