The Keeping Well Abroad project was launched in 2017/18 to encourage students to think about wellbeing in terms of the specific challenges presented by the Year Abroad in their third year of undergraduate study.

The project took the form of a competition in which students on their Year Abroad were asked to submit photographs illustrating either a challenge or a solution - in terms of their physical and mental wellbeing - posed by the country in which they were based. Additionally, we asked each student to write a few sentences about the significance of their photograph to them.

The winning photograph was selected by the Editorial Committee of BABBLE Creative Writing magazine, which comprises students and staff from all six language areas in the Department of European Languages and Cultures (DELC) in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh. We exhibited all the entries at the University in September 2018, before uploading them online as a permanent exhibition.

Funded by a grant from the University of Edinburgh's Student Partnership Agreement, Keeping Well Abroad is part of a wider initiative to foster a sense of community and raise awareness of students’ wellbeing within DELC. I am so pleased that it was extremely well received and that the competition will now be repeated every year to give new students a chance to participate.

Dr Véronique Desnain, Head of European Languages and Cultures

Although this photo isn’t from my Year Abroad destination, I had the amazing opportunity to visit my flatmate, Beth (right) while she was studying in Warsaw, Poland on her Year Abroad, along with my two other jet-setting flatmates from last year: Carenza (left: Tingsryd, Sweden) and Kirsty (middle: Montpellier, France & St Petersburg, Russia)."

"I personally spent my Year Abroad in Toulouse, France and Bogota, Colombia and, at the end of second year, the thought of leaving these lovely ladies was a little terrifying! However, as you can see, one of the highlights was being able to spend a blissful - albeit freezing - week in Warsaw together."

"Throughout the year, we were able to chat and support each other through the delights of social media on our individual years abroad, despite some of the crazy time differences we endured. I am honestly unsure how I would have been able to get through the year without them behind me, sharing my Year Abroad experience no matter the distances between us. I loved this year, but I also could wait until we were reunited once again!"

"The photo represents the physical and mental struggle I had living in a city for a year that had horrific crime problems and made myself and my friends scared to walk alone down a street even in daylight due to harassment and frequently men following us shouting abuse."

"The 'yes you can' graffiti echoes the encouragement and support we gave each other throughout the year in order to get through it. The photo itself was taken on a bridge I had to walk over to get to and from my part time job above a motorway and the Isère river."

One of the greatest challenges of being abroad is maintaining relationships with loved ones, and this photo is significant to me as it captures a recent visit from my partner as we explored Strasbourg together."

"My advice for others departing for their Year Abroad: make plans to visit or host your friends, family and loved ones. Your Year Abroad can get lonely, but will also allow for some of your best memories; both with the people you love as well as the new friends you will find along the way."

Despite being warned about the regularity of strikes in France, the commitment that goes into them has surprised me. The university has been barricaded completely, including windows and emergency exits and exam locations are being changed half an hour before the exam, which creates a slightly stressful pre-partiel environment."

"Many of the buildings have been occupied, and one of my teachers who is leading the students held one of our classes outside the building amongst the strikers, trying to encourage us to join the protest. Meanwhile trains and trams aren't running, demonstrators are marching down the streets in hoards and flights are constantly being delayed. It seems we are getting the true French experience!"

The photo I have chosen is one of me (I am the small red dot) taken in Vladivostok, Russia, locally known as 'the end of the world', and Russia's farthest south-east point."

"When you begin your Year Abroad, sometimes it might feel like the end of your world. From visa problems to struggles communicating with friends and family due to time zone differences, very real mental health problems can develop, and feelings of isolation can grow. However, it is important to remember that these problems, just like the size of me in the photo, are so small in the grand scheme of your university career and life."

"This photo symbolises to me taking something seemingly terrible, such as this isolation, and looking beyond that to the beauty of the Year Abroad and to all of the grand possibilities that lie ahead. To combat my isolation, I chose to travel across Russia for a week on the trans-Siberian with people I am now fortunate enough to call friends. I also maintained good contact with my friends back at home via Skype, so that I felt less isolated."

"It may seem quite scary moving on your Year Abroad into the great unknown, but if you look a bit beyond the immediate situation, you will see there is a great big world out there to discover through both the education you are getting and the place you will be! Trust your decision and your degree, and the rest will follow!"

The Year Abroad is a key part of many MA (Hons) degrees in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) at the University of Edinburgh. Compulsory for some degrees (all languages programmes), and optional for others, it’s a year of great change and great opportunity.

Read our illustrated feature on the Year Abroad Across The Decades