8 Tips for Studying Abroad

By: Kayla Keats

1. Don’t always travel with the same group of people. You will most likely be living with your friends and then wanting to travel with them and go to school with them, etc. That is a lot of time to be with the same group of people. Switch it up for weekend trips! One of my favorite trips was a trip where I went with two other people who I sort of knew, but wasn’t best friends with. 
2. Research and plan! You want to make sure you’re seeing the main sights, eating the traditional food, and getting your moneys worth on those short 3-day trips. 
3. Pack in a backpack. Doesn’t matter if it’s a school backpack or a hiking one, they’re easier to carry when your lugging your stuff from the airport to the hostel. You will become a pro at traveling in a backpack. I did an 8-day trip with just my Northface backpack and I managed to fit A LOT in. 
4. Book flights in advance. Unless you want to pay a crazy amount of money, just plan ahead.
5. Don’t bring your laptop on weekend trips. I didn’t have a problem with robberies in any of my hostels but you never know. I rarely brought my laptop because it just added unnecessary weight to my backpack. You also think you’ll have time to be on it but in reality you’re crazy busy 24/7 and when you get a free moment you want to sleep. 
6. Print out boarding passes . A weird amount of airlines boarding pass printed out. School gives you 500 free pages so use those! I would always print out my tourist attraction tickets, boarding passes and hostel confirmation emails and shove them in a folder for each trip. 
7. Eat the food; it’s a part of the culture. People think the best way to save money is no to eat out. Excuse me no. Food was the best part about abroad. And you can eat cheaply. Try the street food; it’s a good way to eat amazing food for cheap. And make sure you eat out at least once in every city. Doesn’t have to be an expensive fancy restaurant! 
8. Try and do a solo trip. I did a solo trip in Dublin and LOVED IT! You get to move at your own pace, eat where you want to eat, do what you want to do. It’s also rewarding to know you navigated everywhere alone and made it.