Impartial journey is the buzzword for examine overseas college students. Certain, it’s examine overseas — however aren’t we actually right here to expertise a combination of many various cultures too? I had this previous week off for a fall break, and I selected to go on my first greater impartial journey with a long-time pal.
Impartial Journey throughout Research Overseas
Many college students are primarily centered on visiting as many locations as potential whereas they’re on a special continent — I had comparable plans. My program solely supplied two choices for program-facilitated group journeys, and so the thought of planning my very own impartial journey was daunting; nevertheless, if I used to be going to Europe, I would as effectively see as many international locations and cities as I might whereas it was inexpensive.
Impartial journey — particularly solo journey — could be intimidating. My finest recommendation is to maintain the stability and do day and weekend journeys by your self. Something longer, you need to think about going with one other individual. This previous week, I spent on the east coast of a smaller Italian island named Sardinia. I met up in Olbia with a pal from South Tyrol, Italy (shoutout Lea Ganthaler) after taking my very own flight and prepare to get there. It was one of the best choice I made, as we might spend the week collectively and I might nonetheless discover as a lot as I might of a brand new place. It reduces the stress of impartial journey and likewise permits me to really feel safer as a younger lady touring in international locations.
Moreover, I wished to the touch on budgeting whereas overseas, as bills can add up rapidly in the event you aren’t cautious. In favor of a ship tour and cave tour, my pal and I opted to have grocery retailer sandwiches, snacks, and iced tea for our journey. Though exploring completely different cuisines is an possibility, it is usually completely okay to funds in the direction of excursions fairly than fancy meals. It comes down to non-public choice, and particularly with different each day residing prices I have to put my financial savings for, I discovered that funds meals have been an incredible possibility. This additionally doesn’t imply it’s a must to do one or the opposite, however fairly discover a stability. It lets you nonetheless journey independently, with out breaking the financial institution.
Seeing Italy
I had such a beautiful time on this journey, immersed within the mountainous terrain of Sardinia and seeing smaller, extra distant locations. Sardinia is a well-liked seashore trip spot in the summertime, however previous September it may well really feel fairly empty. Because the climate was colder, there have been clearly only a few individuals on the seashores, and it was simple to e book lodging and actions as we went. I discovered that it was okay to be on the spontaneous facet, deciding daily the place we wished to go and the locations we wished to see. The climate was additionally very good, as Freiburg has change into fairly chilly and wet lots of the days. Spending per week within the sunny 60-70s was very a lot welcome, particularly whereas sitting on the crystal blue shores of the Mediterranean.
The primary day of the journey, we flew into Olbia as our base, with my pal driving us in our beautiful Fiat Panda, which we fittingly named Giulia. One factor about touring on an island is that public transport is just about nonexistent outdoors of the three greater cities. Sardinia itself really solely had one precise freeway, which we elected to not make the most of. In Olbia, we merely appeared round and located a scrumptious ice cream spot whereas wandering the streets and seeing some lovely Roman-style church buildings.
After that, we drove to some gorgeous seashores that weren’t tremendous crowded, and we ended the evening with a night swim close to San Teodoro. We have been the one ones on the seashore because the winds have been robust, however we had one of the best time looking into the ocean and different smaller islands. An evening in San Teodoro later, we explored between there and Orosei, in fact stopping for a gelato in La Caletta (which we returned to on our approach again for the Lotus Bischoff gelato). Extra church buildings, extra seashores, and scenic drives by the mountains adopted.
Our final three days, except for driving again as much as Olbia, have been spent in Cala Gonone, a very fashionable boat tour vacation spot. On Halloween, we took the final scheduled boat tour across the jap coast of the island. We sailed into small grottos, noticed the towering mountains, and stopped on the seashores of Cala Mariolu and Cala Luna. I jumped from a small rocky cliff to the water, and we additionally acquired to take a swim within the strikingly blue waters. After our return to the island, we had our first (and solely) restaurant meal of some basic Italian pizza and, in fact, a gelato.
Closing Ideas
Touring outdoors your host nation could be fairly jarring, particularly when your host language. I went from having an incredible understanding of the overwhelming majority of German and interactions round me, to not even realizing “sure” or “no” in Italian. Whereas I undoubtedly suggest seeing different international locations on no matter continent you determine, it may also be exhausting to assimilate a brand new tradition. For me I loved my journey and don’t have any regrets; nevertheless, on the finish, I used to be excited to listen to, see, and communicate German once more.
I cherished Sardinia and would suggest Italy usually to anybody curious concerning the tradition there. As I head into my final month overseas, I will probably be paying a go to to Edinburgh, Scotland (shoutout Olivia Wiley), after which utilizing my country-wide Deutschland-Ticket to discover extra of Germany and its border international locations. On the finish of the day, Italy was like a fever dream of Mediterranean tradition. It took time, however Freiburg has change into my residence base, and I like returning after journeys like this one. I cherished seeing a brand new tradition, however I’m glad to be again in Freiburg, which I can lastly — and confidently — name residence.
Enjoyable truth: Freiburg is within the state of Baden-Württemberg, which endorses enjoyable stickers that folks place in locations all around the globe! You possibly can spot them in every single place, and there are parodies for various locations as effectively, however I got here ready with a few locations for my host state! Translated, they imply: “It’s good right here. However have you ever ever been to Baden-Württemberg?”
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