Live Abroad // The European Experience

Where did you explore? 

I studied abroad in Florence, Italy for 4 months and was able to pre-plan a lot of my travels.  I visited over 15 countries throughout Europe. Every country was so unique and beautiful, but my favorites were Switzerland, Austria and the entire coastline of Italy! My fav cities had to be London, Paris, Barcelona, Venice, and Florence-of course!

Let's Talk Food 

Living in Italy you pretty much eat carbs for every meal…the best pizza, pasta, and paninis I’ve ever had!  Wine was our go-to drink because it was cheaper than water! 

Night Life ☾

Europe is known for its INSANE nightlife and it exceeded all the expectations I had! Florence had a great nightlife but it was more of the bar scene than clubs. The bigger cities like Barcelona and Prague had the most amazing clubs, the party literally didn’t start until 1 AM and lasted until the sunrise. 

Expectations x Reality 

The language barrier is the first thing that you think about when choosing where to study or travel. I thought I would need to learn Italian but almost everyone speaks English so I never had a huge issue, unless going to a place that is less traveled. I also didn’t expect all the armed military that were present in the big tourist cities, but it made me feel safer and we never had any problems. I was a little surprised at how much more expensive all my favorite products at Sephora were (and not because of the exchange rate), so I just asked people to bring me my essentials when they visited. 

Day Tripper

My location for my study abroad program was influenced mainly by how easily I was able to travel. Living in Italy you can take a train for as little as 20 euros and flights are usually around 100 euros. The trains in Europe are really nice and are very high speed which makes traveling between cities and countries a breeze.

The Music Scene ☆

I highly recommend planning some of your travels around concerts! You experience so much more than sight seeing and get to see the nightlife culture of the city in a whole new perspective. My friends and I all met in Barcelona for AbroadFest. It was a 3 day long festival and I got to see Louis the Child, Whethan, San Holo, Cash Cash, Cheat Codes and so many more artists. We also met in Prague for the Chainsmokers concert- so much fun! 

Travel Advice

If you are traveling for a couple months, try to not spend all your money in the beginning. Make sure you know how to tip in the country you are traveling to! Although I never felt unsafe in any of my travels, you should always be aware of your surroundings and never walk alone at night.  Make sure you dress appropriately. There was never a day that I wore sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt outside my apartment as I would stick out like a sore thumb! Lastly, have SO much fun and soak up as much of the culture as you can! ♥

XX

Mia Celani