Like many other study abroad students before me, I have been using my time in Europe to travel on the weekends. Many people plan their trips assuming this is the ONE CHANCE they have to explore Europe, but I urge you to consider spacing out your trips to every other weekend. Take the time to actually get to know the city you are living in! Not to mention you’ll be absolutely exhausted if you spend every weekend traveling to and visiting new cities (airports will soon become your nemesis). Although Granada has its own airport, every trip I have taken involves taking a two-hour bus ride to Málaga’s airport, which is the closest international airport in the area. Tickets are always cheaper from Málaga (usually by hundreds of dollars), and the flights leave at much more reasonable times. While the trek is at times tiring, it has been entirely worth it to travel to such amazing places! Thus far, I have travelled within Spain to Madrid, Toledo, Sevilla, Nerja, Ronda, and Barcelona, and internationally to Rome, Brussels, Brugge, and Amsterdam. In the few weeks I have left I will also be making my way to Lagos Paris, Cádiz, Vienna, Budapest, and Prague!
One of the most impressionable cities I visited was Amsterdam. Although it is an incredibly distinctive city, I felt a strong sense of familiarity there. It was the first city I visited in Europe that didn’t feel stiflingly homogeneous. Streets were filled with different languages and faces, and it was the first place I didn’t feel like an outsider. I finally had access to Pad Thai and burritos and French toast. My friend and I went to the movies and watched a film that wasn’t dubbed in Spanish (every single movie in Spain is dubbed). The most striking characteristic of Amsterdam, however, was just how completely I was surrounded by the city’s exciting, passionate, and provocative culture. I found that the Red Light District was just as humbling and entrancing as the treasured pieces of art in the Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam is a city I highly recommend to anyone traveling in Europe because it pushes boundaries—it challenges societal norms in the most open and understanding way, giving visitors to the city an unshakeable sense of freedom.
