Barcelona – DU Abroad

Reflecting on my time in Florence and Barcelona

Published on May 16, 2025May 22, 2025 by AdriLeave a comment

It has felt like such a whirlwind since being back in the US. But now that it has been a solid length of time, I feel like I can come on here and fully reflect.

Comparing Italy and Spain is like comparing apples to oranges. Yes there are similar aspects, but both of my experiences were very different, for many reasons. The first question people asked me when I returned to the US was: “which place was your favorite?”… but truthfully, I cannot answer this question. Both countries and programs brought me different experiences and wonderful memories. So here are some of those feelings and experiences broken down.

If I’m being honest, Barcelona is probably one of my favorite European cities. I am so filled with gratitude to have gotten to know it and its beauty over a short 10 week time. I am so grateful to have lived in a lively, historic, beautifully designed, buzzing city. I loved hearing Spanish and Catalan, as well as learning more about Catalan history and culture. Having a connection to the language and being able to understand everyday aspects, from stores, to conversations in the street, to ordering in restaurants in Spanish, was a reminder about the importance of learning other languages. It also immensely connected me to my environment and the Spanish culture. Making it feel both so foreign and yet not far from home. Let’s just say that if someone asked me if I wanted to drop everything and move to Barcelona, I probably would. I miss speaking in Spanish and the fast paced yet easy going Spaniard living. I loved living nearby the ocean for the first time in my life, but still being near hills and mountains. I feel like the location of Spain is so ideal, and the geography is truly special. I could spend years just exploring Spain, from the costal villages, to mediaeval pueblos, to new ever sprawling cities, Spain has so much to offer. I have made it my goal to return and do the Camino de Santiago. Spain reminded me the importance of language, history, art, community, socialization, and the art of taking it easy, without missing out on a fast paced world. The academics in Spain were quite good, I had one of my all time favorite professors for a Spanish Lit class, and an absolute genius, philanthropic computer science professor. Reminding me how most everything in the world comes back to art, literature and shared community. So thank you Barcelona for the 1,500,000 (approx) steps of exploration, sightseeing, Long Beach sunset contemplations, and quiet solo time. Until next time, I miss you already.

Now Florence,

Florence holds a special place in my heart. I will admit while I was in Barcelona I often found myself missing aspects of life in Italy. Which caught me off gaurd because I didn’t really anticipate that feeling. I missed the Italian intensity, ordering at a cafe in the only Italian I knew, saying “allora”, produce and resturants, but mostly I missed my classes, photography professors and jewelry professor. The art classes in Florence were quite unmatched. From a wax casting jewelry making class with a lively fiery Brazilian professor, who spoke English, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, to the photography studios and long classes. I miss my food photography professor dearly, he often took us on what I would call culture walks, rather than photography walks. Teaching us about gastronomy, wine, food, the stories of local vendors and restaurants, and how to capture a clean professional food content photo. It was wonderful learning and developing film in a dark room for my fashion photography. Fun fact! The photography classes I took in Florence were my first formal photography classes and education! I love the surrounding hills of Florence so much. I hope I never forget the magic of my last day in Florence, wandering through a forested section of the hills above Florence I had never been to. The way the light came through the cypress trees, truly one of the most ethereal experiences in nature I have had. Florence brought my the expansive often frustrating solo travel and train experiences. Looking back I feel like I truly was someone else in my time there; traveling around solo to other countries at the drop of a hat, almost every weekend, without a second thought. Building many skills in dealing with adversity, cross culture communication, and resourcefulness. One of my favorite places in earth is the Dolomites. The mountains will forever be one of the most awe inspiring, humbling, and grounding places for me. After taking the train, solo, through northern Italy and Austria in the middle of a snowy fall night, I was struck with the magic of the landscape. The magic that has inspired so much art and literature, I truly felt the power of the landscape and understood why so many fairytales stemmed from these areas. Inspiring me to remember to find a place that inspires me, or an environment that I find value in- and not to waste time chasing places or superficial aspects of life.

People often focus on the career application takeaways of studying abroad, and push aside the personal. But I truly believe that your personal experiences, whether big or small, which shaped your time in another culture is what builds those career applicable skills.

First adaptability, adapting to life at a new university, with new people, in a new culture and language is not an easy task. You are learning how to navigate and communicate with people again; and when accustomed communication methods fail, you turn to resourcefulness to succeed in your new environment. Leading into communication, luckily modern day technology has made this language barrier easier to overcome. However it can still be a clunky experience that often needs some improvisation.

Each country has a different development and stability level. Learning how to plan ahead and be aware of this is key to success in travel and safety. As well as understanding how other cultures communicate needs and how corporations are built. Much travel chaos occurred in Italy during my time there during the (frequent) strikes. This left workers taking advantage of people, and all levels of order out the window. Panic buying and long lines ensued. As well as the inhibilty to find anyone to help you. Learning not to panic in high stress and uncertain times, will lead to better self management and money management. Recourse-fullness and having or finding backup plans was a big key takeaway and learning how to swim against the current to get yourself where you need to be. Taking your own route, stopping, observing, figuring out options and not following the herd.

Intercultural communication, trends, art, history, and language. All intertwined aspects of culture and cross cultural understanding.

Studying abroad for most of this past year, I have immersed myself in creative industries, culture, and entrepreneurship. I practiced translating storytelling into visuals that connect across cultures. My time studying abroad was truly the most invaluable, cherished experience of my life. I spent around 4 months in Florence and 3 in Barcelona.

While in Italy I was able to immerse myself into a new culture and language. Which was a wonderful experience, that taught me so many lessons in adaptability and inter cultural communication. It was also a joy to return to Spain. Knowing the language and being able to deeply connect with Barcelona culture and locals was the best experience.

From communicating in my daily life in Spanish, to taking a Spanish literature class where I learned about Catalan culture was an excellent sharpening of my Spanish skills and knowledge.

While abroad I made it my goal to take full advantage of my time and opportunities from travel, to academics, networking and photography.

While in Florence I was able to take in depth, time intensive, photography and art classes. I had the opportunity to develop my technical skills and creative eye. From studio shoots, to creating editorial content and presentation all were wonderful opportunities. I was able to develop my own stylized creative concepts, and direct photo shoots. I learned how to develop film and about the unmatchable quality it offers. Including the opportunity to shoot for a luxury Italian chocolate brand through my professor.

I also traveled to Milan for fashion week where I was credentialed to photograph. My photos were then featured on the fashion brand’s social media.

On my free time I spent time taking solo trips and meeting individuals from across the world. Including meeting local artists in Florence and Barcelona. I developed personal photo project rooted in the local craftsman community, designed custom jewelry pieces inspired by Italian craftsmanship, and balanced my studies in fine arts, business, and media with hands-on creative work.

Living abroad pushed me to adapt quickly, communicate across languages, and push my creativity. Being able to focus on photography and develop my portfolio was a highlight of my time.

As I look ahead, I’m excited to bring this global, artistic, and cultural-centered perspective into new opportunities.

Eurail & train pros & cons

Published on February 24, 2025 by AdriLeave a comment

A personal anthology of Everything Eurail. Everything I wish I knew before traveling around Europe by train (info that even TikTok won’t be able to help you with).

If you’re studying abroad in Europe, and want to travel as much as you can, you may want to consider the Eurail pass.

If you are currently a sophomore, or a junior reading this (and planning on studying abroad in the winter/spring, or even fall) Eurail pass does Black Friday sales. Which is absolutely worth it to buy in advance. It is a really good deal. You can buy your pass in advance, then you have up to a year to activate it whenever you want.

Here are some considerations and tips for choosing the best Eurail pass for you, and to help you decide if it is the right choice for you. As someone with a more limited abroad budget, it was absolutely worth it for me.

First, consider how close your host country is to the places you want to go. Or where you could travel to by train. For example, I was in Florence, Italy. I traveled around Italy by train, and to Slovenia, Austria, Germany, and took a train from London to Edinburgh/Belgium. As well as by train in the UK and the Netherlands. The train station was central in Florence, and easy to access, making trains a great, budget friendly travel choice.

If you’re planning on studying in the UK or nearby, I recommend the Eurail pass! Trains and transportation are VERY expensive in the UK. No matter the time of year. For example I traveled from London to Edinburgh, the train I took would have cost $150 for a 2nd class ticket. Which would be around 35% of my Eurail pass cost, but for just ONE trip.

Also consider how many trips you’ll want to take, and if you need to take high speed trains or not.

A great option for a semester abroad is the unlimited Eurail pass for 2 or 3 months. This is an amazing option for flexibility, budget, day trips and weekend trips. When you’re traveling by train in Europe , flexibility is KEY. It may seem like a lot up front. But it is worth it if you are going to be traveling every weekend (or almost every weekend). Plus it’s nice to get one travel expense out of the way. Take advantage of the Black Friday sale!

It may been intimidating or hard to know what Eurail pass to choose at first, but if you do some quick calculations you can decide which one is best for you.

For example, I had the 10 trip Eurail pass over two months. But I think the perfect pass choice would be 15 travel days over two months. Having the extra travel days for more flexibility and longer travel days is worth it.

Something else important to note, is the amount of months/days the pass will be valid for! If you want to spread out your trips, you definitely don’t want to do the limited number of days in one month. You will get a better value by doing the 10 or 15 days over two months, or unlimited. For example, I decided to extend my last trip by one day. But I forgot that my pass expired that next day. So when I got on the train I had to pay for a full ticket price, even though I still technically had a travel day left on my pass, it didn’t matter because my pass was expired.

Obviously Eurail pass is best for going location to location, not back and forth from one place (like weekend trips). However I was able to make it work no problem, and I really recommend it, as individual train ticket prices can be more expensive and change a LOT. Some people took 3-4 trains in Italy and it cost around the same price at my 10 day trip pass.

No one really talks about train strikes or warns you about them. Italy particularly, was a bit notorious for train strikes. I was not expecting them, didn’t know much about them, and wasn’t warned about them (even by my program in Florence). SO PSA: If you’re studying abroad in Italy and planning on taking trains, look in advance for train strikes. Most of them will be scheduled, but sometimes it’s hard to find specific information. Important lesson that I learned the hard way, if there’s a possibility or uncertainty of a strike, schedule around it. Or arrange backup plans. When I was in Italy, there were particularly many strikes, significantly more than other countries.

Other countries may also have train strikes. If you’re taking a train somewhere to/from a major city, check this before planning your trip. For example Netherlands, Germany, Paris, etc…

However this should not deter you from traveling by train, and you can easily avoid any issues by planning ahead.

Always book trains with at the MINIMUM 10 minutes between each other. But if possible, aim for 20-30 for transfer time. Most trains (especially regional ones can easily get behind schedule), and some train stations may be hard, or crowded to navigate. So most times you won’t even have to wait 1hr – 30 mins between trains, if you’re taking a regional train in any country.

A great pro of using a Eurail pass is having stop overs along the way to your destination! This is how I got to see multiple cities from just one trip/or travel day use. For example, I had a 6 hour stopover in Rome, a 4 hour stopover in Venice. So I got to explore them without using an extra travel day, or buying another ticket.

Lastly and most importantly. Travel days. Something I learned the hard way, is what was considered a ‘travel day’ for Eurail. I had to rework all my trips, and take more high speed trains, to try and just use two travel days for each weekend trip. This is a pro of the unlimited pass, you don’t need to worry about the number or travel days or taking late trains. But let me break it down for you:

When you get your Eurail pass you ‘activate’ it when you’re ready to take your first trip.

From that first activation, your month(ly) period begins. For example if you have a month long pass, and activate it on the 1st of September, it will expire on the 1st of October. Even if you don’t use all your travel days. So use your days before it expires!

You can choose what travel days to activate your pass on (if you have 10 or 15 travel days for example). You need to activate your travel day before getting on the train, or else you risk a fine.

A travel day is a period of 24 hours. Try to take trains earlier in the day to avoid having to use two travel days to get somewhere.

So let’s say you’re taking a train at 8pm, and then you have to take another train at 12am (you’ll need to use two travel days).

You need to activate your pass and get your seat reservations BEFORE getting on the train. This is how you avoid fines or not being allowed on. Some high speed trains only have a certain number of seats for Eurail pass holders. For example, when I was in Amsterdam I wanted to take a high speed train to Belgium, but it had been booked up for a month already because of this limited availability. Same with in London. And they were very strict on it.

Obviously taking trains takes longer than flying, but it’s also a beautiful way to see different countries. I only had two days of classes, so that’s how I was able to take longer train journeys. But even if you have class 4 days a week you can make it work. If you take night trains or high speed trains, it is possible to make a short weekend trip happen. Or you can use your pass for day trips explorations. Everyone should experience a train trip at least once on their abroad experience, especially since it is something we don’t have in the US.

I hope this is helpful if you are considering the Eurail pass for studying abroad, or at any point in the future!

Overall, I do recommend the Eurail pass if you’re studying abroad (in Italy especially), for flexibility, seeing MANY places around the country you’re in, and visiting countries nearby. It is a better rate than flying or buying individual tickets.

Happy travels! 🙂