There truly aren’t words to describe what I have gained from studying abroad. Thankfully, I chose this program which has been a dream come true. It has been an unbelievable opportunity, allowing me to immerse myself into a new culture during the weekdays while exploring Europe on the weekends.

Personal weekend travel has made for the best memories, friendships, and learning experiences, but there have been many bumps along the way. Traveling in Europe is not always easy but so worth the experience. For example, this upcoming weekend, three other girls and I were supposed to be traveling to Copenhagen, which we were all very excited about. Then, we received an email from the airline informing us that our departing flight had been canceled due to an Italian Air Traffic Control Strike. We soon learned that this is a reoccurring event that happens in Italy, effectively shutting down its public transportation system each time. When something like this happens, I just take a moment, breathe, re-evaluate, and plan another trip because, once again, it’s so worth it! We will now be heading to a beautiful lake in Northern Italy, (depending on the trains and the strike situation, of course), and I couldn’t be more excited. I am sure it will be one of my favorite weekends.

I wish I could say this has been my only traveling incident during my time abroad, but unfortunately, I can’t. Like I said, “Traveling in Europe is not always easy.” My second weekend in Italy, a group of us traveled to Malta, which made for a great weekend full of memories and a series of unfortunate events leading up to a missed flight back to Rome. However, at the end of the day, we all made it home to Ariccia safe and sound with plenty of stories to share!

Sincerely,

Lauren Yates | Senior in Graphic Design