Lizzie Fane is the founder of ThirdYearAbroad.com, a site designed by and for students to provide up-to-date information, help and advice about living, studying and working abroad during a university degree. She is available for student media interview – contact her directly or through the StudentMediaWire editor email.

There comes a time in almost every degree course when the subject of a year abroad is raised. For language students it is compulsory and, as such, eagerly and nervously anticipated. For students of other disciplines including History, Nursing, Law or Engineering, it is a culturally enriching and horizon-broadening opportunity that may have been unforeseen but is equally open to them.

As students of Italian, my friends and I looked forward to bicycling along cobbled streets, speaking the language fluently and being regularly mistaken for locals. There was concern about the extra financial strain and other pressures of living abroad, but many of us were supported by Erasmus grants and assumed that we would be overseen by our foreign universities or offices. I prepared myself by dying my hair dark, watching Italian teen movies with subtitles and getting a summer job as an au pair in Piemonte. Appearance, insight and experience: tick, tick, tick!

What I wasn’t prepared for however was feeling quite so out of my depth for the first few weeks. Finding and securing accommodation meant negotiations and form-filling, then I had to work out how, when and where to register at the university, attend classes as the only foreign student, set up insurance and a foreign bank account and plough through piles of paperwork to become a city resident – all in Italian and on my own. What I needed was someone to ask who’d been through the process already and could pass on reassuring tried-and-tested insider tips.

Having failed to find advice of this kind anywhere on or offline, I decided to set up ThirdYearAbroad.com to provide the information, help and support I had needed – all in one place. Students now use the site to find other people going to the same destination as them, pass on and share their top tips, create their own online guidebooks, learn new language study skills and get dissertation and career advice. When students contribute to the site, we ask them to write everything they wish they had known before they arrived abroad; this way, instead of making the same mistakes year after year, students can learn from each other’s, helping them settle in faster and benefit even more from their time abroad.

Setting up the business hasn’t been easy. While I had very generous help from work experience students, aspiring travel writers and our genius web developers at 3B Digital, it has taken time to bring individual universities round to the idea of sharing their year abroad information. We are making good headway however, with more and more universities inviting us to exhibit at their study abroad fairs and pre-departure talks over the next few months, so we’ll have a chance to speak to students face-to-face, uncover and solve their year abroad problems and reveal the dedicated support network available to them.

The benefits of taking a year abroad are many and varied; not only do students quickly develop invaluable life skills, they become more independent and self-sufficient, they understand foreign cultures and traditions, they create an international network of friends and, if they’re really lucky, they become fluent in the language. Graduates have a lot to gain from being bilingual, with the unique capacity to bring international business to any company they are employed by. However, the ability to speak another language fluently is really only possible if students live with locals, immerse themselves in the culture around them and make the most of the opportunity, which is what the year abroad is all about.

Photo: Creative Commons ishane

Savvy students are using price comparison websites and advanced online search techniques to manage their home lives, save time and organise their money.

Whether buying a cheaper television, looking to compare home insurance or seeking a new housemate, the internet has become the number one way to run a student homeshare.

Research by O’Donnell and Associates has shown that students spend more online than any other demographic, while academics Seock and Bailey found that, when it comes to fashion items in particular, students are most likely to browse and research before they buy.

The findings are supported by anecdotal evidence: “When I think of all the stuff in our house and where it came from, I think most of it was sourced on the internet,” says Oliver, a third year student from Manchester.

“We do online shopping for groceries. It’s just easier to agree what we all regularly need and then get the same stuff delivered every fortnight.

“Our TV arrived after a night spent comparing offers. We all had our laptops out and were Top Trump-ing each other. We all became a bit fanatical about finding the cheapest Sony! And even our newest housemate came via Facebook.”

Students have high levels of online literacy, having grown up using the internet in their studies and social lives.

Whether researching information for an essay or chatting with friends over instant messaging, they have become adept at getting what they need quickly and efficiently.

“It’s the first idea that comes to mind,” says Oliver. “My first thought with everything is always, can I get it or can I do it on the internet?

“I don’t even think of it in terms of being more convenient or saving time or being the best method. It’s just natural to flick up the laptop or unlock the phone to find the answer to a question or solve any kind of problem.

“My biggest nightmare would be losing connectivity!”

Planning a holiday is set to get even more exciting this spring, with the launch of new social media site www.hangoutonholiday.com.

Hang out on Holiday promises to revolutionise the way people prepare for their holiday.

The new site has been created to allow those going on holiday to search for and interact with others going to the same place at the same time, before they travel.

Founder, Paul Stanyer, said: “People of the 18-35 age group tend to go on holiday for three main reasons: to get a sun tan, to drink and to meet and have fun with people of the same or opposite sex. Up until now you have to wait until you get to resort to start the process of meeting new people. As a former holiday rep these were the first three things I was most often asked.

“Hang out on Holiday allows you to see who is going, get a brief profile and then choose to interact where the communication stays only between the individuals. You don’t have to respond to a request to hook up with or hang out with anyone who you don’t like the look of. Put simply, the new site allows you to check out your fellow travellers, before you check in for your holiday.”

‘Hang Out’ allows the process of ‘hooking’ up with people prior to travel thus starting the holiday fun and banter the moment you have booked. There is also an alert system that advises when new members have registered and are going to the same place as you.

Those that haven’t yet decided where to travel can still register on the site and are placed in the Departure Lounge with others in the same boat. Once they have booked it takes seconds to update their details.

An online diary system allows members to see what is happening in their resort at the time they are staying as well as providing access to a range of benefits including discounted club tickets and the latest resort news.

The site currently features 40 resorts and is updated regularly with new additions. The site will be tailored for user groups such as skiers, festival goers and surfers, to enable easy access to like-minded travellers.

Stanyer added: “This is not trying to copy Facebook, that’s impossible, but it remains the case that Facebook is for those you already know, ‘Hang Out’ is for those you ought to know.

“It’s free to register and anyone doing so before the end of April will automatically be entered into a draw to win a holiday for two to Greece.”

Visit Hang out on Holiday.

Ben Fishwick, editor of Portsmouth’s Pugwash News, tells us about life at the dashboard of a busy student paper and website….

Give us a potted history of Pugwash
Pugwash News was founded in 2007 academic year by the sabbatical officer responsible for media at the time, Alex Harries, and a student volunteer, Jacob Leverett. The newspaper gets its name from our sister publication, Pugwash magazine. For those wondering, the name refers to Portsmouth University guild of writers and student hacks, rather than any popular 90s cartoon.

Pugwash team (Credit: Pugwash News)

Starting off as a 12 page black and white publication in its first year, the paper went to colour and sixteen pages in 2008 and remained so until the 2010 academic year. This year the paper has gone from 16 to 24 pages and seen the launch of a fully functional website on pugwashnews.com.

Other events led to issue 25 being distributed without a front page after an article about university renumeration was pulled, rather unfortunately, after it had gone to print.

Past members have gone on to PR roles, reporters on various local newspapers, specialist journalism (think Crufts) as well as moving on to roles at the NUS and staff positions at the students’ union here.

Who’s involved in the site?
This year the editorial team has almost doubled to twelve editors, and the number of contributors has been consistently high. The newspaper now has dedicated positions for deputy editor, pictures editor, copy editor and marketing manager. Along with the new ‘Downtime’ section, the team has expanded and will hopefully continue to do so.

Currently our main problem is our online presence. The current picture editor, Dan Chesterton, put the site together and launched it, but keeping it up to date and maintained is a big job, one that we currently don’t have anyone doing!

What are the big stories at Portsmouth now?

One of the biggest issue in Portsmouth is the decision by the local council to restrict houses of multiple occupancy, meaning that as a densely populated city more students who live in these types of houses will be forced to move further north in the city. This would mean that a lot of students may have to live much further away from university buildings, it being a city campus. On a much more positive note, a student here has been awarded the title of Poet Laureate of the city, Keli Anne B was awarded it earlier in the month and is going to perform at a number of events across the city.

What are your aspirations for Pugwash?
Hopefully Pugwash News will become something that all students on campus will recognise and we will increase not only our readership but also our reputation within the university. The team want to make the newspaper the place Portsmouth students turn to first to find out what’s going on here. For example, if they heard that funding had been cut to the university library or the council were banning students from living in certain areas of Portsmouth, they would turn to us first because they know we will tell them everything and exactly how it will effect them. It wouldn’t be a case of asking around, or turning to the university website because all students on campus would know that we will be able to tell them exactly what’s going on (whether that be online or in the latest issue). They will know that Pugwash News takes great pride in being able to transmit the voice and concerns of the students by looking out for upcoming news that they need to know.

Most importantly, the team want the newspaper to remain as a independent as possible from the students’ union and university, giving all students a voice on campus, free from any influence.

What media do you and colleagues enjoy reading/watching/listening to?
Most people on the team read a variety of papers, including the i, the Times and (of course) the Guardian. In terms of online, the BBC news website is always great but with revolutions in the Middle East, Al Jazeera has become quite watched. Also, classics like More magazine, Radio 1, and the 60 second news updates on BBC 3. More locally, there are a lot of people on Twitter in Portsmouth, which helps when researching stories.

How healthy is student media right now in your opinion?
Even though we’ve had an excellent year, with increased editorial independence from the sabbatical officers and staff members at the union, things could be better. The team put their life and soul into Pugwash News and our circulation is improving, but there are still so many students on campus that don’t really know what Pugwash News is. The opportunities we are offered at Portsmouth are brilliant, between ourselves, Pure FM, Pugwash magazine, and the TV station we have all media possibilities covered. I think it’s just a case of getting them more well know so we become engaged with so many more students on campus.

Take a read of Pugwash News

Image: Creative Commons by BotheredByBees

Having a car while at university can make you a popular student.

Just make sure you don’t become the campus taxi service, ferrying mates across town all hours of the day and night.

Here’s a checklist of five vital things you need to look out for while running a car at uni.

1. Get yourself covered

You may be a safe a pair of hands, but the stats are stacked against you. The sad truth is that young drivers are more likely to experience a crash, with 1 in 5 having a knock in their first year of driving. Don’t just buy the first policy that pops up in Google. It genuinely pays to compare car insurance. Not just because you can see lots of different offers and cross-reference each policy. Perhaps surprisingly, you can often get a better price via a comparison search than you would going to the broker directly.

2. Keep an eye on your tyres

Check what pressure your tyres should be and make sure they stay at those levels. Many garages provide free air or, at worst, charge 20p to top up. Every couple of months make sure the pressure is correct. You’ll reduce the risk a dangerous blowout while driving. Look at your tread depth too. Stick a ruler into the grooves – you’ll need at least 1.6 mm to be legal and safe.

3. Stay well oiled

Oil is crucial to the ongoing health and operation of your vehicle. Take your oil seriously. Every month or so pull the dipstick out, wipe it clean with a tissue and then dip it back in. You want to be registering somewhere in the middle of the level markers. Run a car on low oil and it won’t be long before it overheats or serious damage occurs. But don’t put too much in either – over-oiling a car can lead to high pressure and permanent harm.

4. Don’t let it go thirsty

Another liquid to keep an eye on is water. Your car needs water, but not the free stuff from your taps. Unfortunately you need to splash out on distilled water, which as had various impurities removed. Use tap water and the minerals and ions contained in it will gradually corrode the vital components of your car’s engine. Keep your water topped up and avoid being one of those motorists sometimes seen on the hard shoulder with a steaming bonnet and a red face.

5. Are the lights on?

When your car is turned on, the chances are you’re inside it, sat in the driver’s seat, not outside admiring the bodywork. So noticing whether all your lights are working doesn’t always come easily. Make sure you ask a friend every now and then to help you test. Get them to give the thumbs up as you run through all your lights – it will only take a minute, yet it will save you a lot of bother. Having a dead light or lights could lead to being pulled over by the police. Worse, it creates a real danger for you and other motorists.