I completed the first year of the masters in project management, hoping to gain some practical skills, but what I really learned was that my main skills are languages and translation. I decided it would be better to specialise in translation, a field that I am very interested in but had never had any formal or professional instruction.

I work on temp or short-term contracts doing a variety of things: flyering, distributing goodies or newspapers, demonstrating products... The most fun one was demonstrating toys in a shopping centre. I have also taught English, and in my free time I currently coach a womens' football team (which is both scary, hilarious, and rewarding but sadly unpaid).

In 2014 I applied for the post of Lecteur at the university of Le Mans, and taught undergrad conversation classes for two years. It was very good fun and reasonably paid for the amount of work I did. I then chose to do a masters (so much cheaper in France!) In 2016-17 I studied Master 1 International Project Management in UBO, Brest, in order to gain some professional skills but I struggled with a domain that I didn't understand. Translation was the one subject that I was really enjoying there and so I chose to move to Pau, where I did an Erasmus semester in 2012, and complete the masters. I am completing the M2 over 2 years, so I will graduate in 2019.

I expect to work as a translator for a while, with the plan B of teaching. I expect to leave France after the masters but I don't have a destination in mind yet. My ambition would be to work as a translator for the European Commission, NATO, UEFA or a big international organisation, but I'm aware this is really quite elite.

I've been away from home for over 8 years now (3 in Sheffield, 1 on Erasmus and now over 4 in France) and I do still intend to return home one day! With Brexit this is obviously up in the air, so I don't have a long-term plan.

There's lots of opportunities out there, whether you want to work steadily or have adventures. I've had a variety of experiences which basically qualifies me for one heck of a lot of jobs! But more importantly as a linguist I have a ridiculously extensive vocabulary. Put yourself out there and at worst, you'll have some cool stories.

Do stuff. Get busy living and enjoy it.