Francesca is crossing the Channel – and launching the REALIE blogging platform!

As the summer draws to a close and I prepare to set off on my year abroad journey, along with a number of Humanities students, I am pleased to announce that we have a range of student contributors for REALIE (www.realie.org), who will be blogging from ten different countries around the world.

The REALIE website has been created for all Humanities students and is designed to be student led – the blogging platform is therefore an essential element of the project. I am so pleased that so many students applied to become a part of this project and share their own experiences and advice with their peers. We now have a range of students who will be contributing from corners all over the world – from Portugal to Canada and even Australia!

Although the initial response to the call for student bloggers was strong, we decided to approach committee members of Humanities societies and use social media to advertise for smaller language cohorts, and to encourage students doing work placements as well as university exchanges and teaching assistantships. This led to more applications whilst also advertising the website and blog to Humanities students. All of the contributors are enthusiastic about their year abroad and the project and I am excited to launch the site in the coming weeks with introductory blogs from them all. There will also be posts from alumni and students who have completed their year abroad, providing advice and information on the challenges and opportunities presented when studying abroad.

Having had my final meeting with Eleanor and Charlotte I am sad to be leaving Southampton but incredibly excited to begin my new adventure in France. I have loved working on this project and with the Mission Employable team; I now look forward to working with the student bloggers and sharing my own experiences via REALIE.

More soon!

Francesca