One of the best parts about studying abroad in Europe is the absolute freedom one gets. Whoever first started saying that freshman year is the first year of real freedom never studied abroad.
Yes freshman year does allow you to have a lot more freedom than high school, but real freedom is getting bored and deciding to fly to another country on Sunday morning and making it back just in time for class on Monday.
The weekend was the first that my program was ready to travel. The first few weeks we had orientation, school planned trips, or we were not settled enough to make a trip. Finally the perfect weekend came around, but my roommate from Rollins decided to come visit from studying in Israel. I was super excited to see my roommate so I did not plan anything for the week she was here. We had a great time, but she left on a Saturday and all my friends were scattered around Europe. Around midnight I decided that I would go visit my best friend in England because I didn’t really feel like being alone and I don’t have class on Monday until 3.
I booked some cheap flights, packed a bag, and the next morning I was off to the airport. I spent the day seeing things in England I had always wanted to see. I was not in London, but I still got to go to all the restaurants and cafes you always hear about in British culture. It was so unexpected and incredible. You could never just pop a visit to another country and get a stamp on your passport for 19 hours in Florida.
I have put it together that I have been in 8 countries in 6 months and the number only continues to go up being here. I feel so unbelievably lucky to be able to say that this is my life. I only complain a little bit when my passport doesn’t get stamped at every country because of free movement laws in the EU.
It’s sort of crazy to just be able to enter a new country with no fuss at all. I wonder if there is a place where I can ask for a passport stamp. I would like to be able to have the stamps as a cool way to look back.