Throughout my study abroad experience, I’ve taken a lot of weekend trips to other cities and/or countries. Keep reading if you want to hear about my tips and tricks for booking trips and packing for them! 

Exploring Europe is a huge part of studying abroad that may look different for different people. I know some people who have only traveled a couple times, while I know others who have traveled every single weekend. It’s really up to you, there is no right or wrong way to study abroad! 

Before going abroad, I didn’t do well with uncertainty. I wasn’t exactly inflexible, but I liked having a plan, a timeline, and a reliable sense of what is coming. Many times when I was faced with an unexpected change, whether it be a delayed flight or a college rejection letter, it was accompanied by a large amount of anxiety. However, in coming to Berlin, I realized that my mentality toward uncertainty had to change.

A few Mondays ago, I was taking the train back to Social Hub West with my friend after our lecture. The lecture ended just before 5pm, so the sky was still brightly lit, illuminating the spring green on the trees. We hadn’t talked in a while so we caught up about our trips, his to France and mine to Belgium, discussed the content of the lecture, occasionally lapsed into silence to watch the pretty city go by, then resuming conversation.

And so we’ve arrived. The final week in Nantes. I really can’t believe it. Everyone told me how fast time would fly by, but I really didn’t believe them. But these past four months have honestly felt like one. In this final week, I’ve been trying to just take everything in and appreciate this amazing city. Luckily, there have been a lot of different events this week that have helped with that.

Last month, I finally visited Berlin. This is something I had been planning on doing for a while, if you’re in Germany for a year, you should visit Berlin at least once. But, once I arrived in Freiburg, I realized just how far Berlin is from Freiburg, and just how expensive it can be thanks to hotel and transportation fees. By (direct, ICE) train, Berlin is about 5 hours away from Freiburg. This is pretty good considering Berlin is on the complete opposite side of Germany from Freiburg.

One strange part about studying abroad is being removed from my family during times when we would usually celebrate together. Therefore, I was feeling a little sad about celebrating Easter alone especially since we had off of classes the Monday after Easter so many of my friends were traveling that weekend (I couldn’t because of rehearsals for my theater class). So when my host family invited me to spend Easter Sunday with them, I was excited. However, I was also a little nervous because I would be experiencing new traditions and would be around so many new people all at once.

I think it’s important to note that being alone is the easiest way to ensure a unique traveling experience. Weird and great things happen to you. Sometimes they are sub-optimal, but it creates the kind of travel story that’s worth telling. 

For our next weekend trip courtesy of IES Abroad, my friends and I traveled to Sanabria Lake the weekend of March 24-26. This trip was an optional one offered via IES Abroad for an additional fee, but the cost was well worth it. We departed from Salamanca at 8:00 AM. 

One of the things that I was most looking forward to when studying abroad in the Netherlands, was enjoying the spring tulips in Amsterdam. The world-famous indication of spring in the Netherlands is when tulips start to emerge from their earthy caves into blooms of every color in the rainbow. When I first arrived in the Netherlands, Bloemenmarkt, the flower market in Amsterdam, mostly consisted of flower bulbs instead of cut flowers.