It's great to be back blogging! Hope everyone had a great New Year's. I vlogged my New Year's weekend, so be there and check that out here. Last month, I graduated from college, and I've had a little bit of time to reflect on my journey throughout my college career. I have added it up, and in my four years of college, along with getting a degree and writing an undergraduate thesis, I traveled to 7 different countries, and many of those countries I have been to multiple times. I traveled on planes, trains, buses, boats, and cars for a grand total of approximately 40,110 miles! I wanted to share with you a reflection of my college travels, why you should travel in college, and how I did it!
I racked up nearly 18,000 miles traveled by studying abroad for a semester my sophomore year of college. There I was in late August of 2014, about to board a plane for England, with my return flight nearly 5 months in the future. Rewind to 4 years before that when I found out about a program in college where I could go live in a country that I had dreamed about for years. It seemed impossible when I first told my parents that in college I could live in England in a castle (manor house lol)! I knew that for me to have a good chance of getting accepted into the program that I would need to get accepted to my university's honors college program. I had always been a pretty good student, but now I had this motivation to finish high school strong. In the second semester of my senior year in high school, I was accepted in the Honors College at my university. All that meant for me was that I would be able to go to Harlaxton, and I only had one more year to wait.
Before I ever started my first day of university, I applied and was accepted to Harlaxton College for the Fall of 2014, my sophomore year of college. I also began applying for scholarships and grants. So, this leads me to my first tip for traveling in college. PLAN AHEAD! It is so much harder to get funding for your travels if you wait until the last minute to decide that you are going. If you are traveling alone, and not with a study abroad program, planning ahead can get you good deals on hotels and flights.
If there is a program like Harlaxton at your college, this is an easy way to see more of the world in a study abroad experience. In fact, just go to Harlaxton College, not only because it's the #1 study abroad program in the US, but because it really does give you a springboard to see more of the world that you would get in any other program. I traveled nearly every weekend of the four months that I lived there, and saw more than I ever thought I would. Going to Harlaxton was also the push that my family needed to start traveling internationally. At the end of the semester, my parents and younger sister met me in London, so I was able to show them some of the places that I had been, and also, I got to go to a couple of new places with them.
My life in day trips and weekends at Harlaxton looked like this: London, Lincoln, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Ireland (Dublin, Cliffs of Moher, Galway, Connemara), North Wales, Southwell, Woodhall Spa, Oxford, Bath and Stonehenge, Cheshire, Paris, Donna Nook, Rome, Florence, Venice, London, back to Grantham, back to Cheshire, Liverpool, London again, Paris again, Bayeux, and finally Disneyland Paris.You can read about all of these trips here on this blog, and you can watch the vlogs that accompany them on my Youtube channel.
When I look at that list, I think about how lucky I am, and how thankful I am to the people that made it possible. I worked hard to be able to do that for a semester. It's incredible what an experience like that does to you as a person, and I've written about that several times. If you want more about Harlaxton, I am always happy to talk about it, so let me know what you would want to read about.
When I got home from Harlaxton, I honestly didn't think I would go back to England or any of the other countries that I had traveled to until I was finished with college and had a job. However, two and half years after I got home, I was spending New Year's Eve in London, and I was in absolute heaven.
My second study abroad experience came on kind of abruptly. I wasn't expecting my parents to say yes, since they are a big part of the funding for my travels. To my surprise, they said yes, and it was honestly so amazing to be back. The purpose of this study abroad trip was more business than leisure than Harlaxton. I conducted some research for my undergraduate thesis whilst I was in London, and I was able to give Dublin a second chance, and I actually really liked it the second time around.
That leads me to my second tip! I LOVE going to new places, don't get me wrong, but if a place doesn't go the way you planned the first time around, maybe you should go back. After my first trip to Dublin (search reviews for Paddy's Palace to understand), I thought I would never go back, however, I shouldn't have judged the city based on the fact that I stayed in a scary hostel the first time around. Dublin was way cooler and more fun the second time around, and I am glad that I went back and gave it a second chance.
For that trip, I was also able to find funding. However, I had a shorter notice than I did the first time around, so I didn't get as much as I did for Harlaxton, so I totally stick by my plan ahead theory.
Organization is also the key. If you are organized, you can take on as many projects and trips as you can safely handle. If I hadn't have been as organized, my college experience could have been a lot different. I was able to juggle traveling, getting great grades, writing an undergraduate thesis, and graduating near the top of my class all because I am organized and hard working! And there is no reason that you can't do that either!
I think my family also caught a little bit of my travel bug. So, this summer, we all took a trip together, and it was wonderful! If you want to watch the vlogs from those travels, you can find them in this playlist.
I am so thankful for all of my experiences in college, and I am looking forward to even more travel in the coming years, now that I am a break from school! If you have any questions about traveling in college, or traveling in general, I will always be happy to answer them. You can contact me by checking out My Socials. I love talking about my experiences and what I've learned from them, and I am open to blog post suggestions. As always, thank you for reading.
I want to take this opportunity to talk about some exciting things that I have planned in the new year. I am leaving for Walt Disney World tomorrow, and I will vlogging that trip over on my channel. I have been to WDW many times, as my family are huge Disney fanatics. I would love to do some blog posts related to tips for visiting WDW, so stayed tuned for that on this blog. I can't wait to make 2018 one of the best years. As always, you can follow this blog my email to get an email when I publish new posts, subscribe to my Youtube channel, and follow my socials for updates about both my blog and vlogs and of course, life in general.
All the love and Happy Travels!
Alexandria
xx
