We asked people who found love on their year abroad how it happened

‘I was really good at singing September by Earth, Wind and Fire’


According to the European Commission, 27 per cent of former Erasmus students met their partner during their placement abroad. We put this to the test by asking returning “year abroad-ers” for their romantic tales.

Alex, Paris

The possessive claw, usually the result of a second date boyfriend

Having just returned from a year abroad in Paris, I can tell you Parisian men bloody love a relationship. I found love in a hopeless place… for about a month.

Following my first date with a French lawyer I had met, genuinely, on the street, I, through the result of broken French and awkwardness, became his girlfriend on the second date. An obligation I swiftly abandoned, as he would never let me get into his bed if I had jeans on: “Zee subways are a vury durty place, zerefore no jeans dans mon lit”.

Charlotte, Paris

Who says you can’t find love on a metro which stinks of piss?

It all started with a night of karaoke and ended with me waking up, wearing only one sock, lying next to a man in his mid-fourties called Jean-Emmanuel.
I think it was because I was really good at singing September by Earth Wind and Fire.

Danny, Le Havre

Seems legit

It was Sunday evening, I had no food and in my little village in France everything was closed. I used Grindr to find someone to feed me.

Around 10.30pm a guy I was chatting to told me to meet him in some random back alley. This old guy with no teeth came up in a mini van and told me to get in. I was too scared to say no.

He lived in this tiny flat and I pretended I was really into The Dark Knight so we wouldn’t do anything but we ended up kissing. Before anything else started, I said I wasn’t ready to do anything and left…

Harriet, Bordeaux

The epitome of style and class in Bordeaux, this gal will attract all the bus drivers

I went on a date with a married bus driver by accident. We went for coffee and did a bit of a food shop. It was a nice day really.

Masha, Brussels

She’ll do anything for that extra mayo

I fancied this frites man who worked in a fritterie outside where I worked. He always gave me extra mayo and mustard. It could have been a beautiful romance.

Gina, Mexico

Escaping to the Mexican clouds to avoid the phantom bum tickler

There was this one time when a man stalked me and felt up my arse. He actually managed to get in between my cheeks.

He turned up a month later doing the same thing, but he was so sneaky, he couldn’t be caught for being a bum-feeler. The police knew about him but could never pin him down.

Liv, Murcia

Ah young love

I actually met my boyfriend travelling in South America after my placement in Spain. We’re keeping it going long-distance, so we’ll see how that goes.

Laura, Hangzhou, China

Family mems

There were loads of boys coming up to all of the girls because we were white and had boobs and that. One day in the park, we were literally running away from a crowd of people because they wanted pictures of us to send to their extended families to keep as memories.