Going solo

Photo by me (Florence, Italy - 2011)

I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of traveling alone. The first thing that that comes to mind as to why is safety. Being a woman traveling alone, it's only natural to think of safety. Second, I am absolutely horrid at directions. I have no sense of direction and am awful at reading maps. I do think one of the best things to do while traveling it to get lost, just not in the stressful, oh my god time to freak out kind of way. Thirdly, I get lonely easily. I'd like to share that particular travel experience with someone, and have someone to keep my company and to talk to. 

Then I started thinking about the instances of my past trips abroad where there were times where I was alone. Then my feeling slowly stated to change. Being around a large group of people while traveling is, to me, too stressful but being alone the entire time is as well. I think it's all about finding a happy medium somewhere in there, and then slowly but surely taking the steps outside of my comfort zone to go at it alone more often.

Most of my past trips have been with schools, so I'd be with a group of anywhere from 15-25 students. The first time abroad, the group travel was the right thing for me but after the third or the fourth trip I was not as big of an advocate as I once was. 

The second trip abroad I went on was a school trip to Italy in 2011. I was in Florence and the group had gone to the Uffizi Gallery for the day. I went off with another girl from the group and we got separated but agreed to meet in the gift shop. So I waited. And waited. And no one showed. Finally, after realizing everyone left, I knew I was alone. I had to find the way back to my hotel alone. For someone who is as bad as directions as I was, I was kind of freaking out a bit. Thankfully, the way back to the hotel was easy, and I had paid attention the past several walks along the same route. I started along the route back, a route I had walked at least 5 other times but this time it was different. I actually had time to take my time and to really appreciate and absorb the beauty of Florence. In that short walk, I reveled in the fact that no one else was there and it was so peaceful. I walked alone the road in awe of the buildings and the beauty of the Santa Croce church. In the short time it took me to get back to the hotel, I had the time to actually stop and appreciate where I was, something that is difficult to do in a huge group when you're trying to rush from place to place because you are on a schedule. Amongst the craziness of that group trip I like to think that that time I spent alone gave me back a bit of my sanity that you can at times lose with a big group abroad.

The same time next year I went on another trip to Paris with another group. This time was a bit different, since I had a friend who was living in Paris at the time. The first night in Paris I broke away from the group and met up with my friend. While I wasn't exactly traveling alone that time, just being with one person instead of 20 people for a few hours was incredible. Those few hours we walked around Paris were the best memories I have of the city. I had my own personal tour guide who gave me a private tour of the City of Lights at night. We walked through The Louvre, over the Seine, to Notre Dame and to Shakespeare and Company and more. It was such a great experience; to walk around Paris at night with no plans and no destination...just the goal to appreciate an incredible city.

That same summer I went abroad again with my university for a month. We spent 3 weeks in London, Paris and Rome and then after our program was over, 5 of us decided to explore more of Italy for a week. That trip made me realize two things: one, traveling with a very small group was so much better than a large one, and two: hostels were awesome and I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the hostels we stayed in. 

We decided to expire Venice for a few days. Venice took my breath away from the moment I stepped out of the train station, and kept taking my breath away the more I saw of it. I loved walking through the streets and down alleyways with no particular destination in mind. I loved seeing glimpses of the grand canal through the buildings, and I loved just how different Venice was from anywhere else I had been. One night we went to dinner at a restaurant on the canal. Once we had ordered, I decided to break away from the other 4 girls for a few minutes and go explore the beautiful Rialto Bridge. They probably thought I was crazy, but I was craving some alone time with such an incredible city. Again, I really got to appreciate and absorb the beauty of Venice, even if I was surrounded by tons of people on the most famous bridge in Venice. I went into some shops, talked with some Venetians and took some of my favorite photographs from my travels thus far.

As I took back on the times I was alone while abroad I am reminded of all of the positives of traveling alone and that it is extremely possible to do so, even for myself. While I won't be going off on a month long tour by myself tomorrow, I hope that in the future by living in London and exploring the various boroughs and neighborhoods of the city alone, it will push me closer and closer to taking a trip by myself and turn me into a solo travel afficinado. 

Three.

In May of last year I had heard that when you are a senior at my school you can do an internship abroad for class credit. I was so glad to hear this news. I was hopeful that I would finally get to London and that everything would work out.

Soon I made an appointment to talk with the person in charge of the internships abroad. I knew what I wanted to do. It seemed simple enough: I wanted to do an internship in some sort of hospitality or travel/tourism related job in London. When I visited, I laid out what I wanted to do and why. 

Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed when they basically told me, "Sorry, we can't help you." They went on to explain that what I wanted to do was extremely hard because they had little to no resources over in the UK to get me an internship. He said that I could, of course, pursue my own internship and try to find something myself but then essentially shot that down by saying how extremely hard it is to find an internship in the UK and even more difficult to get a visa. This was last May, and he said he wasn't sure that doing something a year from now would even be enough time.

It was incredibly difficult to sit there and hear someone basically shut down your last chance at your dream. It was even more difficult to walk out to my Mom and trying to explain to her how it wasn't going to happen without bursting into tears. Of course once I got out into the car only then I burst into tears. I was so upset. London was my dream that I had been working toward for 3 years, and I kept trying and being shot down. I felt that I had no options left, and my dream of London would have to be just that - a dream. I would have to learn to let it go and try to focus on other things.

Several months later a friend of mine was talking about looking at grad school's to attend after graduation. She was living in Paris at the time, and one of her options for school's was in London. My dream of London was very much still in my mind and I had still wanted it. After researching the option of getting a job in the UK after graduation (while still residing in the US) or the possibility of being transferred to London through a employer, both of which are extremely difficult to do (though not impossible, I've seen it done but it is very hard to accomplish), I had quite literally exhausted all of my options.

So when a friend brought up grad school, that planted the idea in my head. I wasn't sure about it, though. Did I really want to spend another year in school? Normally someone else would look into all of their options and try to find a better or easier way, but I had already done that in the past. Every option has been looked into and exhausted; this was the only option I had left.

I started researching schools, just to see if there were schools that even offered what I wanted to major in. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that there were more schools than I thought that offered travel and tourism related degrees.

After months of research on everything from housing to location of schools to money and costs, I've decided on a school and am almost done applying. A year ago I don't think I could have imagined myself here, seriously considering grad school. Living in London for over a year. It's something that is so much better than what I had previously planned for myself.

It's so surreal that this is something I'm actually pursuing. I've worked toward this for almost 5 years and I hope that it really, truly happens for me.

Amsterdam

Photo by me

Amsterdam is somewhere I would absolutely take a weekend trip to while I am in London next year. Amsterdam is about a 4 hour train ride from London, or just a quick 45 minute flight. It is not located very far from London geographically speaking, but the city of Amsterdam is very different from London in many ways. From the hundreds of canals and bridges, to the skinny Dutch row homes which Amsterdam is know for, it is a stark contrast to the always on the go aspect of London. While being the capital of the Netherlands, and still a major city I feel that it is much more relaxed than London. Perhaps it's the beauty of all of the canals and water throughout the city, but Amsterdam has a relaxed peace and calm about it that allows you to take in the scenery of what Amsterdam is known for in relative peace and quiet.

I was fortunate enough to visit Amsterdam four years ago on my very first trip to Europe. To be honest, I was so excited about London I had completely overlooked Amsterdam and was so focused on London. I was sad to leave London, but was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of Amsterdam that I had not been expecting. As I look back on my time there, I am so glad I visited, for now, 4 years later I know Amsterdam would definitely be on my travel bucket list and I would be itching to go as soon as I could.

People think of Amsterdam as a dirty or unkept city simply based on the legalization of marijuana and the legalization of prostitution and the Red Light District. I can tell you that this assumption is absolutely not the case. The Red Light District and coffee shops selling drugs are a part of Amsterdam, yes but they are not all that Amsterdam is. Amsterdam is an incredibly beautiful city with an immense history involving one of the most famous books of the 20th century, as well as one of the most famous artists of all time. If you do not wish to interact with or expose yourself to some of Amsterdam's more controversial aspects, as a traveler you are absolutely able to do so. Though I believe one of the best parts of traveling is sometimes exposing yourself to some of the more uncomfortable parts of a country's culture, so I gladly took a walk through the Red Light District and found myself going into a coffee shop or two while I was there.

To me the best time to visit Amsterdam is April or May simply for the tulips that have bloomed there. Hopefully a long weekend visit in Spring awaits me, with a day visit to the incredibly Keukenhof Gardens.

London love

Photo by me

Recently a family member asked me, "Why do you love London so much? Why do you want to live there?" And I couldn't really answer. There is not just one single reason why I love London, I just do. 

There are just so many things I love about the city. I love that London is a fairly short plane ride away from the U.S. I love that London is similar is a lot of ways to the U.S., but at the same time it's so different. I love the contagious energy the city has. I love that everywhere you can look around you and be reminded that you are in London. Whether it is the 'look right' or 'look left' reminders painted on the road, or the 'mind the gap' at the Tube platform or the black cabs or red buses that are synonymous with London, it seems like everywhere you go you are reminded of things that are quintessentially London. Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and the red telephone booths all belong exclusively to the capital city of England. I love the Underground and how so many people depend on it to make their way around. I love the parks and open green spaces London offers for so many people to escape the crazy hustle and bustle of the city. I love the pub tradition and culture there. I also love how much London itself depends on tourism and tourists and travelers alike. From famous hotels and restaurants, to the famous monuments and museums, London provides so much for travelers that want to visit. 

I don't have one particular reason for why I love it there, but there is one thing I do know: I want to live there someday and someday soon.

Two

After my previous attempt at going to England for the long haul failed, I was determined to keep at it and keep trying. I was in the process of transferring to a new school which meant new opportunities and hopefully another chance to be in England.

I put the energy I would have used to go abroad for a semester to pack up my dorm and move back home for 3 months, and then pack everything up and move my entire life from Florida to Rhode Island. 

Having looked into my current school's study abroad program, they offered quite a few month long summer programs and only a few exchanges. The did offer a month long program to England and Scotland, with about a week long stint in London but it was for a different major than mine. Besides, a week in London wasn't what I wanted. I had been on short term programs abroad, I knew I was looking for something more long term such as an exchange. 

So I turned my attention to the exchanges. They only offered one exchange to England and it was in Leeds. Worse, they only allowed 2 students per year to go on an exchange there. I knew I didn't want to participate because it wasn't in London, but the 2 students per year was the kicker for me. I knew with my GPA I wouldn't even be considered. Those who are considered must have had a 4.0 and all of the extracurricular activities in the world to even have a chance, so I didn't even bother.

I was pretty disappointed. I was counting on this opportunity to get me to London long term and it wasn't going to happen. I started up with classes, and dealing with the pace of the trimester system my school has and worked my way through the next few months of classes. A few months after that I had heard that in your senior year, students could do a senior internship abroad for class credit.

Once I heard that, I knew I had to look into it. Another chance to get to London had presented itself and I was hopeful once again.

I love you internet

In one of my recent posts I mentioned how I was a bit stuck with my grad school application process. I was confused on what to put down for a couple of sections of the application and wasn't sure where to find the answer. After asking around, and still being just as confused I realized: why don't I just Google it? Duh. I wasn't sure exactly what to Google, but I figured I'd better start somewhere. I Googled, and low and behold, the very first link that came up provided all of the answers! 

Some incredibly amazing person who had also been through the grad school application process, took the time to write out a very long post detailing every section of the application and what to put in every section! I couldn't believe it. I was so relieved reading it. That post has seriously helped me so, so much in the recent days of filling out the application.

So now that that is behind me, I am on to completing more sections and am about halfway through. The biggest things now are writing the personal statement, getting my references and mailing out my transcripts.

This process is pretty daunting, but very exciting! I can't wait to submit my application; it's going to be very surreal. 

One.

In my first post I briefly mentioned that I had missed out on a few different oppurtunities to be in London for the long haul in the past. I figured I would dedicate one post going into a bit more detail about each opportunity and why it didn't end up working out.

My first opportunity to spend an extensive amount of time in England came in early 2012. I had transferred to a large university in Orlando, Florida (I was living in Florida at the time, and had been living there for 8 years at that point) and was eager to study abroad. I knew even then I wanted London. However, unfortunately my school offered no semester long exchange to London, which was disappointing. Still even today it seems insane to me that a school of 60,000 students (yes, sixty thousand. We were one of the largest school's in the country) didn't have an exchange program to such a major city like London. 

They did however have an exchange to Surrey, a region of England about 40 minutes outside of London by train. They offered an exchange studying Hospitality at the University of Surrey in Guildford, Surrey. One of the things I was studying at the time was hospitality, so it seemed to work for me. I was not 100% sure about applying for it because I wanted London. After  I saw a friend of a friend do the same program, and saw what a good time she had (and heard that she got the entire month of April off of school to travel) I decided to do it and apply. As much as I had wanted London, that just wasn't going to happen and this was the next best thing. 

I eventually got accepted to the program, which was exciting. Then, however, I really started thinking about the program. I was already going abroad in the summer of 2012 for a month. If I went ahead with the exchange, I would be doing it in the spring semester of 2013, which would have been my final semester. Doing the summer abroad would have given me all of the credits I needed for Hospitality, so going on the exchange for hospitality meant I would be getting no academic credit for it. I would essentially be spending $10k for no reason, because I would not be getting any credit for the exchange. That semester was supposed to be my last, so participating in the exchange during that time would have pushed my graduation back until winter of 2013, so I could complete the remaining credits I needed. 

Considering everything, it's no wonder I didn't go through with it. Looking back on it, it would have been a bad idea if I had. While it was hard to see the date of my would be departure pass without me on a plane to England, overall it was the best decision. I knew doing an exchange to Surrey, at least for me, would have been settling as London was what I really wanted.

I did still go on the summer month abroad and got to visit London again. And while the visit was far too short, only for 6 days and it was painful to say goodbye to the city I loved so much, that trip set the foundation for where I am right now. That trip made me realize that travel was my passion and it was the field I wanted to make a career in. It was when I returned that  I knew I didn't want to graduate from the current university I was in with the major I had decided on. I wanted to graduate with a degree in something I was proud to have, and that I would use, and the degree I was getting at the time didn't satisfy that.

So in early 2013, it was not in England where I found myself. Instead, it was Providence, Rhode Island at a completely different school, and a completely different life. My life in Florida versus my life back in New England ended up being completely different from one another. However now I was studying something I was proud to be studying: travel and tourism. It was here that I continued on my mission to get to London for the long term, once again.