The Weekenders

I think when my friends and family picture me here, they think I’m constantly traveling. They think I have days on end to hop on planes, trains, and automobiles and spend masses of my time outside Cambridge. Although we are lucky enough to have two breaks that combine to make three weeks off, on weekdays we have to be in town for class (I know that sounds like an obvious observation, but sometimes even I forget, though it’s more out of hope than anything else). In order to travel outside of our breaks, we have to cram certain trips into the weekend, which is made easier by the fact we have Fridays off. Yeah, I know, woe is me, having to confine trips around Europe to three-day weekends. My life is so tragic. Fortunately, my purpose is not to evoke pity, but to inform future study abroaders (definitely a word) or anyone else who’s interested about popular types of weekend trips you can take as a student abroad. And if you think I’m only doing this, not out of concern for future study abroad students, but as a desperate attempt to tidily sum up what I’ve been doing for the past month, well, frankly I’m appalled (by how accurate that thought is).

Class Trips

Okay, these are mandatory and we have no control over them whatsoever. Our director Matt, a beautiful soul, plans the whole weekend and pays for basically everything. This makes planning, booking, and budgeting a total cinch. We have three class trips this semester: the London trip I already wrote about, the “Castles Trip” (though we only saw two castles) that we took in March, and a trip to the Lake District, which we are taking next weekend. One common theme is that we always have to wake up at some ungodly hour to leave (meaning 7 am). On the Castles Trip, we at least had a few hours to sleep on the bus before we got to our destination, which basically turned out to mean everyone else sleeps while I take embarrassing photos of them.

Matt is a whiz at balancing out the typical tourist activities that you feel you have to do (Stonehenge. The sheep beside it were more interesting. I worked on my tan. But still, you have to do it) and some really interesting, more off beat activities. For example, we met up one night in Stratford for a ghost tour. It was very entertaining, except for the fact my toes were slowly going numb because apparently I haven’t yet learned how to dress appropriately for the weather. During these class trips, we get a lot of free time at night, giving us the option to relax or go explore the city on our own. I particularly liked the Castles Trip because I’d been to all the places before when I was 14, and it was really interesting getting to re-experience the various sites, unfortunately remembering 14-year-old me and what a weirdo I was (“What a weirdo you were? I don’t remember that ever becoming past tense!” Oh look, I just saved my parents a comment).

Crashing With Your Friend Trips

Or, in my case, crashing with Julia’s best friend’s boyfriend, a bit too specific to have its own category. Toward the end of March, Julia and I went to stay with Brooke, who was visiting her boyfriend in Scotland. Leo and his roommate Nick were incredibly generous to offer up their couch to us as well as offer to show us around Edinburgh for the weekend. Because we used our Britrails to get to and from Scotland and stayed with friends, the trip cost basically nothing, aside from the occasional nourishment in the form of some Scottish delicacies (okay, McDonald’s).

One of the best things about staying with someone who lives in your destination is that they know the must-see places as well as cheap or free activities. For example, Leo told us paying for a castle tour wasn’t really worth it but accompanied us on a hike up to Arthur’s Seat. I blame my rampant cold for my constant need to stop during the mountain hike (note the word “mountain”) in order to take a breather, or as my mom calls them “photo breaks.” The foggy view at the top was worth the trek up, though the journey downward was very unconventional and led to Julia and me crab-walking down a steep hill.

 

Out of Country Trips 

From Ireland to Germany to France, close approximation and cheap ticket prices made it easier than ever to hop a plane to

continental Europe (or Ireland) for a weekend. Julia and I recently kicked off our two week break with a weekend trip to Amsterdam. We used Couchsurfers again, so we were able to avoid weekend hostel prices. Another way to save money on any trip is to be ignorant. Now, you have to be careful in which situations you choose to be ignorant because you could inevitably end up losing money if you choose incorrectly. This strategy works best in foreign countries. In Amsterdam, we didn’t really understand the tram system. We would just hop on and get off at our stop without paying because we honestly didn’t know where or how to buy tickets. It wasn’t until our host filled us in on how you need to buy a card (ranging from 1 hour to 2 days) at a desk upon entering the tram and check in and out with the card. Although I found this information out the night we arrived, I played up the dumb American stereotype a little bit, so that I only had to pay for 1 one hour pass the entire weekend (I’m not sure if I’m officially allowed to recommend this, so I’m simply just relaying what happened). Amsterdam also offered a free walking tour, a cool way to learn about the city’s history.

Although the tourists are the most prominent on the weekends, these trips are the best for experiencing the thriving night life of any city you visit. In Amsterdam, we got to see the Red Light District in full swing. The Van Gogh museum had live music on Friday nights, which made the atmosphere a lot less like a stereotypical museum. But we also got to hop on a ferry (which was either free or didn’t have any clear way of collecting a fee) during the day to a weekend market on the wharf. Some of my favorite parts of traveling are experiencing what the locals do on a daily basis, such as attending the market. To me, weekend trips to mainland Europe were relatively stress-free because even if we didn’t do much during our days there, the trip itself was pretty cheap and it always beat the alternative (staying home and binge watching all the rom coms in the house while feasting on pita bread). Plus, I imagine it’ll be quite fun once I’m home to say, “Oh yeah, we just hopped on over to the Netherlands for the weekend. No biggie.”

Although I have spent a good number of weekends right here in Cambridge, it was fun to get out of town for a few days at a time and experience the other countries and cultures that are currently at my fingertips. Julia, Hannah, and I spent the rest of our two week break in the UK, falling in love with the British all over again. As my last few weeks in Cambridge wind down, I am getting progressively more sentimental. So it would be wise to expect my next blog to be about all the things I’ll miss about the UK. Expect tears as well.

 

Danielle