What It Takes To Live In a Foreign Country As a Full Time Cyclist

Upon my reflection of my first full year in France I thought I would record a video on how I survived living on my own. 8 key points on how I managed it and something for anyone to use if planning on doing the same. Let me know what you think of the 8 and if you would add anything.

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Hey everyone welcome back to the  channel as some of you may know   this is the start of my second season in  France so I thought the idea of today’s   video would be a quick guide and some  tips on what I learned on Surviving my  

First year living in a different foreign  country being a cyclist I hope you guys enjoy I’ve come up with eight ideas that I think  are crucial in how I survived last year and   what I’m going to use again this year just  for a background for some people that don’t  

Know I’m currently 19 years old so last year  I was 18 when I had this new Step In My Life   um and living on my own being one part of it and  also racing my bike um so yeah here’s what they

Are number one I’d say is one of the most  important things I’ve learned and that I’ve   since been a back here tried getting into as  quick as possible is getting into a routine   um when I’m here in France it’s very easy the  only thing I’m doing is riding my bikes it’s  

Very easy to lose track of time and waste  a lot of time so what I try and do is have   structure to my day in terms of getting up at  a similar time every morning going to bed at  

A similar time riding my bike at a similar  time and eating my meals at a similar time   just so everything’s a bit more structured  uh and have a bit more going on where when   I first came over last year I was riding  my bike I was training well but because I  

Didn’t have that structure in every day I was  wasting a lot of time uh and not being very productive my second Point again this is more  for being in a foreign country is learning the   lingo um I before coming to France I knew very  little French uh and it’s something that well  

I’ve worked on a lot and I wish to continue to  work on um but it wasn’t really until again last   year a few weeks in that I realized how much of  a problem this would be uh this is being around  

My team and races but also again day-to-day life  over here wherever you go whatever country it’s   really crucial uh to have that lingo and the  language with you um as it will make your life   a lot easier for socializing making friends  in shops asking questions um and I think is  

Something really important for anyone thinking  of doing something like this my third point and   something I wish I did a bit more last year but  I’m also definitely going to focus on this year is   take every opportunity that given to me I did this  quite well last year with things like the island  

Games um that was an amazing experience for me and  it was nice to race back home uh but this also is   not just in racing but travel um opportunity I had  last year was to go to London uh for the sports  

Aid athlete welcoming event which was really good  again another opportunity I’m really happy I did   um but then the example where I wish I’d done a  bit more was in April last year I was planning  

On going back home to gery uh and on the way I  ended up getting stuck in the other island of   Jersey uh and this wasn’t planned land uh and at  the time I saw it was a real negative uh and all  

I was focused on was um being oh I want to go to  gy want to go to gery really looking back on it   now I wish I appreciated that opportunity a bit  more um I was able to ride my bike uh in Jersey  

And explore the island a bit uh and just socialize  a bit more which was nice to do um I sort of wish   I’d just done a bit more of it and not seen  it as at a negative at the time and actually  

A positive yes I wasn’t expecting it to happen but  it happened and I should have used it a bit better   um and seeing the good point number four like I  said earlier um is about my free time when I’m  

Not riding my bike over here I have a lot of free  time that can easily be wasted uh and my fourth   point is utilizing this free time and making the  most most of it uh I’ve really tried um working  

On things like the YouTube channel editing stuff  um graphic design things just like reading books   um and it’s not just sitting around and watching  Netflix all day because as good as that is what   is it bringing me uh I feel like I need more  plans in life if the cycling never works out  

Um which I feel like by creating opportunities and  utilizing this free time to learn new things and   skills is a perfect way to use it uh so that I’ve  got these backup plans for the future if uh stuff  

Doesn’t work out and also think it’s important  to pick things that you want to enjoy um because   you’re not going to be persistent with stuff if  you’re not enjoying it whereas YouTube channel   when I’m in that grind and I’m uploading videos  I’ve really enjoyed it um and I hope to continue  

This and also in my free time this year learn  new things and continue growing my skills off the bike Point number five this is again both of  something on and off the bike living over here   is expecting and accepting knockbacks um  I realized last year this is something I  

Wasn’t really expecting was um it was so hard  when I had a difficult race or a bad race or a   bad day to talk to anyone in that sort of  way I know I have my family on a touch of  

A button over a phone but living on my own  over here actually just talking to someone   through it uh and explaining things is something  I really struggled with um it’s it was difficult   whereas back home if I have a problem I can  talk to a mate or a family member like that  

No problem in person and I can talk through  it where over here it’s it’s a bit more of a   struggle this is something I hope to change  this year well I hope to improve on by being  

More open and talking to my family when I’ve had  a bad day or a bad race um but it’s definitely   something for people to expect if they’re ever  going to come out to a different country not be  

By their family uh is to yeah it’s the the hard  times are even harder when you’re living on your   own because there’s no one there to comfort  and support you um so just be prepared for

That my sixth point is really similar to the last  point is uh keeping focus and aiming towards goals   I think something that I’ve changed this year  which I didn’t really do last year very well   was setting myself goals which then helps my  last point of the difficult points if I’ve got  

Something to aim for and Achieve for I’ve got  light at the end of tunnel and an objective to   work towards um and I think this is very  important uh in terms this is more of my  

Racing side of things um by having that event  coming up I know I have to put the work in and   their timing to hopefully be at my best level for  that race uh so this is something I’m looking at  

Aiming on to do more this year is I’ve selected  specific races throughout the season um that I’m   going to focus on and have my main goals and  targets which will hopefully get me better results Point number seven which again can link to  the last point of focusing I think is learning to  

Switch off again this is something I’ve learned  from last year I didn’t do do it very well and   I hope to do more this year is learning after  aiming for an objective or having a long period  

Of racing to switch off I’m very lucky that home  for me is only a 2hour boat away I know lots of   other Riders racing in Europe or people living  away from home this is a lot longer and it’s a  

Lot more difficult um so when I did take these  trips home last year I did go home but I didn’t   switch off completely I always had racing and  riding my bike and training in the back of my  

Mind and I think this year um something I want to  do is when I do go home is completely switch off   don’t even think about the bike just for a couple  days at a time just to really refresh the brain  

Uh enjoy being around the family again because  obviously I don’t have that all the time when   I am over here in France um and I think this will  be very crucial in order to be fresh and motivated  

To get going to then achieve the next goals  that I’ve got coming up um by being completely refreshed and my last point point8 is appreciating  every day I’ve got here um I think this is   something that obviously I’m very lucky to be  in the opportunity that I am uh to be living on  

My own um living in France doing what I’ve always  dreamed of of riding and racing my bike something   that really opened my eyes to this mall um was  having all of last year and then being able to  

Do it again this year uh speaking to a lot of  my mates over the winter back home in gery uh   it was very interesting about how much they are  enjoying their lives and how happy they are since  

Leaving school and being in office jobs uh and  it really made me grateful for what I’ve got uh   and trying to achieve this dream that I have um  I really I’ve got nothing to complain about in  

What I do um I’ve got it very easy uh and I  cannot be more grateful um and even just the   small things every day getting up and riding  my bike is all I have to think about and I’m  

Very grateful for that there you go guys go there  are my personal eight points and what I think you   need to live on a foreign country on your own  as an athlete let me guys know what you think  

Of them and if you agree with me um I hope you  have enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs   up if you haven’t already and also subscribe  to my channel and I’ll see you guys in the next one oh