Isle of Skye, Scotland

While I loved Copenhagen as a city to live in for four months, the other great thing about studying in Europe is that it is very easy to travel around to other countries. Even if you have a pretty tight budget, it is still definitely possible to travel, and Europe is a great place for beginners and people who are first learning the ins and outs of traveling due to the fact that it is generally pretty safe and it is easy to get almost anywhere with the public transportation in Europe. In addition, the main cities that are visited generally have all the main sights located in a historic center of the city and are therefore very walkable once you get there. Here are some of my main recommendations for future travelers!

Hostels

I want to begin by explaining hostels because they have honestly been one of the most amazing things I have experienced this semester, and one of the best parts of traveling in Europe. Every major city in Europe has lots of them, most being about $20 per night. You get a bunk bed with sheets and a pillow in a communal room, usually co-ed, and access to a kitchen so that you can cook your own food. The wonderful thing about hostels, besides allowing you to travel cheaply, is that they are meant to be social. In most hostels, in the evening once people come back from seeing the sights, everyone convenes in the common area to share some bottles of wine, meet each other, and talk. English is often the common language (although there are often multiple conversations happening in multiple languages at the same time), so as an American it is really easy to meet and talk with everyone. Even though I am an introvert, it was practically effortless to meet so many people just due to the fact that I was so interested in where they were from and how their lives differed from mine while living in France, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland, or wherever they were from. Once you meet the other people in the hostel, you can go out and enjoy the nightlife together in the city, and the next day, explore the city together as well. Most people who I have met in hostels are solo travelers and are eager to meet other people, and everyone is generally in their twenties. I can not explain how cool it is to meet other people my same age from all over the world, who are living such different lives but essentially share this one common interest of traveling and seeing the world. The fact that we share the happenstance of being in the same hostel in the same city in the same random part of the world creates a bonding experience of sorts I think.

Choosing Where to Go

I traveled to eight different counties outside of Denmark this semester, and one thing I learned is that figuring out what you particularly love about traveling and choosing where to go based on that makes a much more memorable and enjoyable trip than just hitting the main cities for the “I’ve been there” gratification. Whether it be the food, the language, or the weather, traveling somewhere because it has something that is particularly meaningful to you is the way to go. I figured out that one of the things I care most about is natural beauty, and my trips to Scotland, Spain, and Portugal, which I planned based on this interest, are some of my most memorable because of this. I recommend thinking about the things that you particularly like, finding others with those same interests, and going from there!

Scotland had fantasy-like landscapes

The golden cliffs of the Algarve coast in Portugal

Beautiful turquoise water in Mallorca, Spain