Jumping from country to country for weekend trips while studying abroad in Spain is no easy task, especially when researching at the same time!
By: Bella Gerencser
Three experiences I want to have while in Europe would be visiting 9 countries, understanding public transportation, and creating an international food vlog.
The nine countries I plan to visit would be Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia. I personally have never travelled by myself, so this journey is very new for me. Whether to take a bus, train, or plane, or to stay in a hotel, Airbnb, or hostel, it’s a lot to understand. For example, this week I am planning a four-day weekend trip to Portugal, where a group of 10 will travel to Lisbon and Porto. This appeals to me, as I love organization and visiting new places to understand their cultures. Also, I am excited to be on an international trip with people my age with similar interests. With the countries listed, I will be able to check off seven new countries. Being able to budget and plan is a vital skill I will need in life, including research. I believe that while I am in each of these countries, I may take an interest in looking into the physical features of the communities’ sustainability. With this, I can pull in comparisons of other European examples of sustainability rather than just America, which is likely to be different based on the continent.
I am also looking forward to trying public transportation, as the USA lacks this opportunity, or it is too expensive. While planning these nine countries I want to visit, I have looked into pricing and availability. For example, if a train is too expensive, ~$100, a cheaper bus is always available between cities. Through this, I am planning on taking a night bus from Prague to Vienna, where I can sleep on it and not need a hotel room that night. This is more of a personal goal as I understand the train system can sometimes be tricky for newcomers, so I am excited to try this everyday opportunity that others have.
The third thing I am looking forward to is starting an international food TikTok vlog series. This interests me as I adore trying new foods from different cultures, and while traveling across Europe, I am excited to see how they differ. As someone who is on foodtok (a genre of videos on TikTok dedicated to trying food), I am the type to want to contribute as well. Also, being able to edit and put together these fast-paced, compelling videos will help with my editing skills needed for my sustainability research vlog.
Two skills would be learning conversational Spanish and understanding how to edit through filming my experiences.
I want to learn conversational Spanish as a way of respect and showing that I care about the local country and culture. I believe this is both a personal and professional skill. Personally, I will be able to ask for directions, order food, and barter in clothing markets. Professionally, being able to communicate with other students in Spain as well as being able to have simple conversations with the professors I am researching. Later down the road in construction management, I will need the skills to speak Spanish to talk with other contractors and workers, as well as with developing companies.
Understanding how to edit videos will be vital to completing my vlog research in Spain, as my YouTube video will be around an hour long. Having the skills already will quicken the process, as editing is tedious. For my future career development, these skills will likely mainly be personal in creating food TikToks, as mentioned before, as well as continuing to create theme park reviews in Orlando. Professionally, I could use this skill in engineering courses that require me to show off my new inventions. Down the road, I could use this skill to show off new developments in a video for consumers.
One meme that represents how I am feeling is this:
This is significant because I am currently planning all of my weekend trips, and half of these countries have the same distance from my house to Tallahassee. So I am excited to visit everything!!!
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