I would say that I made my final decision after visiting the campus and seeing the city (how can you say no? it's so pretty!). I loved that everything was on campus and that every building was within walking distance. For me, I would hate having to travel between different campuses that are spread across a town! I had also done a lot of research on the facilities and societies that were available as I knew that I wanted to continue my hobbies at university. My advice would be not to underestimate the importance of things like this when making your decision - obviously you're going to university to study but if your favourite hobby isn't available where you're going, you'll regret it when you have some free time! You can see the sports and societies available at Bath on
BathStudent. For your year abroad, youcan pretty much do anything you want (within reason - spending six months lying on a beach is frowned upon!). You have three options: studying at a university abroad, doing a work placement or working as a language assistant. You are also not limited to the 'main' country. For example, with Spanish you can do any of these things in Mexico, Chile, etc. Work wise, it's pretty much up to you what you apply for. There are work placements that are advertised through the university or you can send out applications to companies that you would like to work for. The range of options is HUGE - which is, of course, the best thing about being a languages student. When looking through the options I saw placements in translation, marketing, publishing, teaching English to company employees, receptionist work, working with children at an activities/language learning centre...there's even a placement that involves selling yachts!
A really good thing about the year abroad is that you can alter the time you spend in each country to help with your 'weaker' language. If you want to work on your Italian more in your year abroad as it'll be ab initio you can spend a whole year in Italy ifyou want to, as long as you spend at least 3 months in a Spanish speaking country (you can use your summers either side to make the time up).
Have you been to an open day at Bath yet? This is the most useful way of helping you make a decision!
I hope this has answered your questions - if there's anything I missed or anything else you want to know feel free to quote me again.
Gracias! - Espero que decidas venir a Bath!
Carly