Handbook of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese

The year abroad

• Deciding what to do
• How to keep in touch
• The Faculty's Year Abroad web pages

The Year Abroad Office, your College and the Careers Service all have roles to play in helping you arrange your Year Abroad: 

There are three ways in which you can spend your Year Abroad:

As an English-Language Assistant

This is the most straightforward option for Spain and Latin America (more difficult for Portugal and Brazil), and very rewarding for those who have a genuine interest in TEFL: the assistantship scheme is organized by the British Council, and your Director of Studies will have forms. The deadline for applications is usually early December. 

Studying at a foreign University

The Faculty approves attendance at any course which is taught in the foreign language, so this could be your chance to study something a bit different. If you are contemplating this option, you should come and read the report forms in the Year Abroad Office and preferably also speak to a fourth-year student who attended a University. Applications in Spain and Latin America are not centralised, and you will have to get in touch with some likely Universities. For Portugal and Brazil you should seek the advice of the lecturing staff. Most Universities now have WWW pages which list courses and staff and give you an idea of the place. You must be careful not to sign yourself up for a high-cost course, since the Faculty will only reimburse certain maxima. Cambridge University has exchanges with some Universities. We also have some informal contacts with Spanish Universities, and some Colleges may also have connections. The Year Abroad Office will advise you further on this option. 

In employment

This is the most difficult option of all to arrange, but it can be very rewarding. The Faculty will approve any employment which is legal and which brings you into regular daily contact with the foreign language. You could also contemplate voluntary work. The Year Abroad Office might be able to put you in touch with other charitable organizations). To get an idea of what students have done in the past (and to get contacts) you should read the files and books in the Year Abroad Office and consult the Careers Service.

For questions about the Year Abroad, consult Dr Martin Crowley who is the Faculty Year Abroad Officer.

Important information about keeping in touch during your Year Abroad

It is essential that you keep in touch with your Director of Studies and your Dissertation Supervisor during your Year Abroad. By far the easiest way is by e-mail (see the information below), but if that fails, you should always ensure your DoS, the Year Abroad Office, and your Supervisor have an up-to-date postal address while you are abroad. It is up to you to remain in touch with your Dissertation Supervisor - do not expect her/him to make initial contact while you are abroad.

You can still use your Cambridge e-mail account while abroad - there are three ways of doing this:

• Using any Web-enabled computer in the world, go to webmail.hermes.cam.ac.uk, and log in with your Hermes username and password. This is a secure connection, and is the recommended way of accessing your mail.
• As an alternative, you can open a free e-mail account with one of a number of companies that allow you to check your e-mail from any Web-browser in the world. Try http://www.iname.com or http://www.hotmail.com, both of which give you a free e-mail address that is different from your Cambridge address (e.g., Jane.Smith@iname.com). You should ensure that your Hermes account forwards to your hotmail or other account (do this from the account settings in Hermes).
• In some countries you may not have access to the Web, but you may have access to telnet. The Computing Service no longer recommends the use of telnet (see www.mml.cam.ac.uk/computing/email.html), because it is an insecure connection and it is possible that someone could steal your user information. As a last resort, however, you may need to access your account in this way by starting up a telnet programme (in Windows, Start / Run, and type telnet in the command box) and then open hermes.cam.ac.uk. With luck you will then be able to log on to your Hermes account with your password and start up Pine in precisely the same way as if you were in Cambridge.

Although the option under 1 above, or e-mail forwarding under 2, will usually be a better idea, you can also configure a Hotmail or similar account to read your Cambridge e-mail via the Web. In Hotmail, under 'Options' choose 'POP Account' and enter your Cambridge user-identifier (e.g., jjs32), Cambridge password, and in the box that asks for the POP server, enter pop.hermes.cam.ac.uk and choose whether to leave a copy of the mail you read on your Cambridge server, or whether to download it all to your Hotmail account — the latter is best, because it will stop your Cambridge account getting bunged up with old e-mail messages. Note that to "get" your Cambridge mail, you will have to click on "Get POP mail" or "Get external mail" on your Inbox page. 

If you have access to e-mail or the WWW abroad, you can also use it to send a FREE fax to any UK fax machine. For full details of this service, see http://www.tpc.int/.
 

Link to Year Abroad page
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• © 2010 Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Faculty of Modern & Medieval Languages, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA. Tel: 01223-335005; Fax: 01223-335062; Email: spanport@hermes.cam.ac.uk
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