Nicole – Home in different places
A Story by Nicole Sorlie
Country of origin: UK
Country of Destination: Cyprus
Three EU mobility programmes later and I think it’s safe to say that I would happily spend the rest of my days living abroad. I seem to travel further east away from the UK every time I participate in one of these programmes, which has encouraged me even more to look for opportunities which will enable me to stay in the South East part of Europe.
I first participated in a mobility programme arranged by my secondary school when I was 17. We were based in Slovakia, but had the opportunity to travel to Czech Republic and Hungary for a day each as well, to meet politicians and ask them about the policies in their countries. I had such an amazing time with people my age from different countries and it encouraged me to look for a similar experience when I was at university.
Although most people tend to do an ERASMUS exchange when at university, I instead participated in a Summer Project exchange programme. I had a desperate curiosity for Bulgaria and amazingly I found a cultural exchange mobility programme up in the mountains of a small town in Bulgaria. I completely fell in love with the country- so much so that I was determined to go back and maybe even live there.
Through doing some research I found the Leonardo da Vinci programme, which is a fully funded internship for 10 weeks, with 2 weeks of language training included. There was a journalism internship programme in Sofia, Bulgaria but by the time I graduated it was no longer available there. There was, however, an opportunity in Cyprus and so I applied as soon as I could.
I gained a place on the programme, it was an amazing opportunity and more people should get involved with similar European projects. My dream is to make hard-hitting current affair documentaries, but sadly my degree in linguistics doesn’t really lend itself to that many transferable skills. However, my internship in Cyprus was with a fantastic Music and Video Production company based in Limassol. I had the opportunity to gain relevant skills, experience and perspective of an industry I’m interested in, but don’t know much about.
I’ve moved house and country so many times I lose count, but this was the first time I chose to live abroad independently. It definitely proved to me that I can do it and most importantly that I will. In January 2015, I plan to live in Norway for 6 months, this time organising my own internship with a film company there.
It’s not often in this day and age that you get given the opportunity to live and work abroad, for FREE, without having to do any of the organising yourself. You gain valuable skills to help you get where you want to be and you have a great time making memories whilst doing so.
