I knew that studying abroad would be exhausting, I just didn’t realize how exhausting it would be. Weekdays are packed with interesting lectures on topics ranging from any and every subject, plus field trips to sights we learn about in class. Weekends are given to the students to do as we please. Knowing that our time abroad is limited, the Chigi babies have not been spending our weekends catching up on sleep. Instead, we have been spending our personal travel time jet-setting to the cities of our dreams: Paris, Monaco, Budapest, Prague – you name it!
A few of us Chigi babies spent one of our weekends in Munich!
It is a well-known fact that I have a severe case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). I find myself worrying that if I don’t try to do every possible thing that there is to do in a city, I will have missed some life-changing moment. Should I try to see every sight in a city that is twice (if not three times) as big as my hometown all in the span of two days? Probably not. Do I continue to do so every weekend anyways? You bet I do.
I asked myself this morning if trying to experience all a city has to offer is worth missing out on a little extra sleep. I honestly changed my answer at least 7 times but I finally decided that it is, without a doubt, worth every hour lost. How many times in my life will I be able to say that I hiked Mount Vesuvius or that I swam in the Mediterranean Sea at sunset? How often will I get the chance to spend a weekend in an amazing city like Rome, Munich, London, or even Barcelona with new friends I didn’t know I would have? The answer, for me at least, is probably once, and that one time is now. So while I may keeping saying that my legs hurt from walking or that I could really use a nap, I will continue to happily give up my sleep this summer because I can sleep when I’m dead.
Ciao!
Harper Stephens