Monthly Archives: March 2015

03/12/15

Top Travel Tips

Prague – the one city I was not going to miss.

So your on exchange. Great, but what now? How do you get out to experience the part of the world you now find yourself in? Well I’ve recently planned a 5 week trip through Eastern Europe so I have a few tips.

1 – Budget, Budget, Budget

Start with deciding on a budget.  This will help you pick where you go and how long you go for.  Is money tight? Have you been frugal to save money for this trip? This is the time to ask yourself a few questions. Hostels, hotels, or couch surfing? Planes, trains, or buses? Knowing these things are crucial to decide where you’re going to go and how long you’re going for.

2 – Timing

One of the annoying bits of being on exchange is that you’re still a student and have academic obligations, even if you try to pretend you don’t. This means that time is always in short supply so try to spot long weekends, midterm breaks, and general time off well in advance.  I get 5 weeks off for Easter because I now live in a ridiculous country which is absolutely perfect for travel, but there have been other chances for me.  A bunch of class cancellations can me almost a week of in my first term and I’ve had a lot of 3 or 4 day weekends as well.  Those are really great opportunities for shorter single-destination trips and are great fun.

3 – Where in the World Do I Want to Be?

Picking a destination can be easy or it can be hard; sometimes you have a city in mind as a ‘must-see’ city but other times you just feel like getting out into the big wide world and exploring.  A few questions to ask yourself might include: Is it worth visiting Paris for a week or would I rather 3 weeks in Eastern Europe? Is it worth flying a great distance when there are adventures to be had only hours away? Is there any city that I absolutely have to visit before I go home?

4 – Here are a few websites to help you out

It can be fun to dive into the world of travel but sometimes you don’t know where to start.  Here are a few websites that might help you out.

  • Rome2Rio – A great way to plan routes, Rome2Rio figures out the approximate cost of flying vs taking the train vs busing vs driving.  Really a great resource!
  • SkyScanner – If you type ‘Everywhere’ into the destination box, it’ll look up the cheapest destinations for flights from whatever airport you put it.  A great tool if you’re looking for a weekend getaway without caring where to.
  • GoogleFlights – Another great tool for looking up flight information and surprisingly unknown.
  • Seat 61 – A great introduction to rail in Europe, this guy has basically any information you might want when it comes to taking the train in Europe.
  • Hostel World – If you want to pre-book hostels, you can’t go wrong with Hostel World.  It’s the easiest way to book hostels and has a massive selection.

5 – Don’t Sweat It

There is no wrong way to travel.  If you want to book everything in advance and plan every minute of your trip, go for it! If you prefer to just meander through a new country or city and take in the sights as you happen upon them, power to yah!  As long as you’re safe and having fun, travel is bound to be one of the best experiences of your life.  To use a fairly overused quote, “Travel: It leaves you speechless the turns you into a storyteller”.

03/9/15

An Ode to Home

How could someone not miss this?

One of the things I haven’t written about yet (and yes, I know there are a lot – I don’t write much, I get it) is homesickness.  I haven’t written about it much because I haven’t really been homesick.  The closest thing to homesickness was the first night I was in Durham for when I was the only person living in my building that has an odd smell and could use some TLC. My room was impersonal and felt unwelcoming and I had a moment where I thought “What have I gotten myself into?” Luckily I was so exhausted after being awake for about 36 hours that I fell asleep in seconds and the next morning I unpacked my bags and my room instantly felt like home.

Why didn’t I feel homesick? I think a few things helped.  Firstly, the UK really isn’t that different from Canada. I spoke the language, recognized the food, and vaguely understood most cultural references.  I knew what I was getting myself into for the most part and nothing really surprised me.  I think this is pretty important because it meant I avoided the culture shock that can be really traumatic for people who have never lived abroad before.  Instead of worrying about figuring out where I was and what was up with all these strange new things, I could focus on making a spot for myself in my new host country.

Another thing that played a big role in me not feeling homesick was, I think, the way Durham treats exchange students.  We were given the opportunity to live in the residences at Durham and be a part of their ‘Freshers’ (the equivalent of Frosh Week or Jumpstart at UBC here).  I was immediately throne into a community, initially with just a few international students but then with all the new students.  Making friends was easy and for the first week-and-a-half I couldn’t have had more than 5 minutes to myself if I’d tried.  This meant there was no time for me to miss home, I was too busy exploring my new home.

I think the last thing that really helped my adjust was that I changed what I considered home pretty quickly.  My home while I’m here is this room I’m sitting in as I write this.  It isn’t the house I left behind in Vancouver, it’s the small room that all the things I need for my year now live in.  It’s the room I return to after going on a day trip to Edinburgh or a week-long trip to London.  I think this adjustment is important for exchange students because it helps you feel like an insider, not an outsider.  If you always treat your home as being in Vancouver or Canada or anywhere except the city your on exchange to, you’ll never truly feel like you belong in that city.

So that’s why I didn’t get homesick but I think there are a few lessons to take from it if your worried about homesick or are feeling homesick:

  1. Know what to expect – don’t jump blindly into a foreign culture.
  2. Keep busy – doing things helps to keep your mind of home.
  3. Change where ‘home’ is – try to make your new exchange city feel like home by going on day trips or weekend trips.
  4. Meet people – making connections is the easiest way to make a new city feel like home.  There’s nothing more reassuring than seeing family faces all over town or campus!

For now, that’s going to be it! I have another idea for a post so look for that soon!