11 Lessons Learned While Studying Abroad

When discussing time spent abroad, phrases like “life changing” seem to get thrown around a lot. I knew when I boarded my flight that I was about to embark on a transformative journey, but I didn’t realize just how much of an impact my time abroad would have on me.

I’ve tried to pinpoint just a few of the lessons learned while I was abroad, but the amount of change I experienced is truly indescribable.

72 Hours in Russia

Typically, entering Russia as an American citizen requires that you apply and pay for a visa, a process that can be very expensive and take months to complete.

Thankfully, there’s a loophole that allows foreigners 72 hours of visa-free travel in Saint Petersburg if they arrive by ferry and have a guided tour, a return trip, and hotel or hostel booked.

Plans Will Change — Embrace It!

I’ve had this post saved in my drafts for about two months now, and I’m revisiting it at a time when I personally need to take my own advice. Hopefully, other travelers out there can benefit from this as well.

No matter how many alarms you set or how many times you check that boarding pass, it’s inevitable that your plans, at some point, will fall through. This happened to me multiple times this semester, but ultimately, some of my favorite moments happened as the result of previous failures.

15 Apps and Websites to Help you Survive your Experience Abroad

Everyday

1. Offline dictionary

I’d say this has been even more important than Google Translate for me this semester. Hungarian is a very tough language to learn. It doesn’t share common roots with any other popular languages. I downloaded an English-Hungarian dictionary app that I could use offline. That helped immensely when I was without Internet and tried to see if what I was purchasing was yogurt or sour cream.

Lviv, Ukraine: A Hipster’s Paradise

The political situation in eastern Ukraine is currently a bit of a mess, but after some research, my friends and I decided that a trip to Lviv in the far western part of the country would be a fun (and safe) idea.

A Week in My Life in Pécs, Hungary

While I’ve been documenting my travels, I thought it’d be important to give everyone an idea of what a standard week is like in the quaint city of Pécs, where I am currently living and (sometimes) studying.

Hungarian Food: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good

1. Donuts

My roommate offered to make me traditional Hungarian donuts, which are quite possibly my favorite Hungarian food that I’ve tried so far. They are made similarly to american donuts, but she served them with her homemade peach and strawberry jams, which really made this dessert stand out.

Photo Blog: Spring Break in Italy

After a few months in landlocked Hungary, I was craving a bit of time at the sea, a new culture and some delicious cuisine. Two friends and I decided that Italy seemed like the perfect place to spend our spring break, so we booked some cheap flights and set off.

For the first five days, we stayed at a cozy bed and breakfast in Meta, a quaint town right outside of Sorrento, in the south of Italy. From there, we traveled by train to Cinque Terre, a string of five villages along the coastline.

A Day in Plitvice Lakes National Park

One of the primary reasons I chose to study in Hungary was to allow myself the opportunity to travel to the eight countries that share a border with this nation. I was craving a change of scenery after a long week of midterms, so I decided to hop on a train to Croatia, where the seafood and beautiful views are abundant. I stuffed a change of clothes into my backpack and headed off for a relaxing weekend.

Mohács, Hungary: Where the Wild Things Are

For her first post from Hungary, Be International Blogger sent a bunch of photos from the annual Busójárás Carnival in the town of Mohács where hundreds of people dressed in carved wooden masks and fluffy wool cloaks take to the streets for six days of feasting, parades and dancing every February.