Before I studied abroad this summer, I’d only seen cities like Paris, Rome, Florence, London and Amsterdam through movies and Instagram posts. This past summer, however, I finally got the chance to see these places in person and learn a lot about the world around me.
During the two months I was away from home, I traveled to three different countries and over eight European cities with my closest friends — oh, and I studied physics. This was also the first time I left the country since the second grade and my first time traveling out of the country without my family. Here are a few things I learned during my summer study abroad experience in Europe.
Europe’s transportation systems beats America’s any day
I had heard it was cheap to travel within Europe, but I didn’t know it was that cheap. If you plan ahead, you can purchase round-trip plane tickets to another country for less than $100. This is extremely cheap considering it costs over $100 for a round-trip plane ticket from Berkeley to Los Angeles.
The underground train is another common — and great — feature of Europe’s transportation systems. It’s usually extremely fast and trains come every five minutes — I wish BART was as efficient as this. In addition, the train system is highly integrated within each city. You can get anywhere within the city by train and even travel out of it for a fairly cheap price. When I was in Italy, I was able to travel from Rome to Florence for less than 30 euros and it was only about an hour train ride.
The only expensive part of the trip was getting there, all the food I ate and all the shopping that I definitely did not have to do.
Why didn’t anyone introduce me to hostels earlier?
Cheap, cheap, cheap! Hostels are literally the best thing ever because they provide inexpensive lodging for travelers. The more people you share a room with, the cheaper it will be. Some hostels have over 20 beds in one room and if you’re traveling with a large group, you can even book a room entirely for your crew. The cheapest I paid to stay in a hostel while traveling was about $15 per night.
Asian food is not it in Europe
I REALLY missed eating Asian food, especially Thai and Chinese food, while I was away. Even Asian restaurants that locals raved about just weren’t as good as the Asian food here in the Bay Area.
Can I take the UK’s grading system back home as a souvenir?
The UK’s grading system is extremely generous and one I wish Berkeley practiced. The scale includes: 70%-100% as an A and 60%-69% as an B. My jaw literally dropped when I learned about this. My parents would be so proud of me if I were a UK student. :,)
Being far away from home sucks
I’ve never lived super far away from home and I’m grateful that I’ve always had the luxury to go home whenever I wanted to. But studying abroad was a different story. Homesickness hit me hard and I couldn’t do anything about it. My family was over 5,000 miles away from me and there was no way I could afford hopping onto a plane to see them during the program. I didn’t think I would be homesick because I’ve always prided myself as being independent. Long story short, you’ll definitely get homesick studying abroad so make sure to bring something with you that reminds you of home and will give you comfort! I don’t know how you out of state and even international students do it, I give you mad props!
Tons of people speak English
This was something I was extremely surprised about. I thought I would have a difficult time maneuvering around Paris and Spain because I don’t know any French and the last time I practiced my Spanish was when I was a junior in high school. But I was surprised to find out that most of the employees at train stations, restaurants and shops speak English.
These are just some of the things I’ve learned and wished that I knew before I studied abroad in Europe. If you ever get the opportunity to study abroad, I would highly recommend it, because I made so many unforgettable memories during my trip and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
