studentsineurope

I’m a nomad. I haven’t stayed in one apartment for more than eight months since I moved out of my parents’ house, and that was twelve years ago. Four-to-six months is my average length of stay. The residence on my driver’s license is three years out of date and being asked for my permanent address [...]

I’ve arrived back in Cagliari after my trip to Groningen and Florence, and I have to say it’s nice to come home. It’s also funny to realize that I think of Cagliari as home. I guess almost any apartment would feel like home after youth hostels and couch surfing, but I’m also enjoying how nice [...]

To celebrate its new merger with ISIC – the International Student Identity Card that no youth should travel without — Eurail recently launched a promotion that offers ISIC holders two days of free travel with the purchase of a 2nd class 15-day continuous Global Youth Pass.
Available on Eurail’s web site for $469, the pass offers [...]

I’ve flown to Italy several times and I’ve often wondered why I never get routed through Florence. I get routed through Rome all the time, but Florence is another big, famous city. Why don’t I fly through Florence?
Before those of you who’ve flown into Florence start mocking me, let me state for the record that [...]

At 5:15 this morning I left my hostel and wheeled my broken, noisy suitcase onto the streets. It was quiet and dark out. Groups of students chatted, wobbled, and pedaled home after their long nights out at Groningen’s many clubs and bars. Here and there a flower pot was overturned or a bunch of fries [...]

You always have an excuse when you get seduced. You know you’re making a bad decision. You even know you’ll regret it. But your amazing powers of rationalization kick in and before you know it, the deed is done. In my case, I blame the muffin. I was wandering innocently around Groningen looking for an [...]

At the east end of the Grote Markt you’ll find the Martini Tower, a huge square bell tower that rises over the city and can be seen from almost anywhere (making it, incidentally, a great way to reorient if you get lost). As one of Groningen’s characteristic monuments, it’s worth a visit when you’re in [...]

I’ll just be up front about this. On any flight, but especially on an overseas flight, you DO NOT want to annoy the flight attendants. Flight attendants are there to make your travel experience more comfortable; friendly, happy flight attendants will do just that. I’ve had cheerful flight attendants bring me endless refills of orange [...]

After ceremoniously saying goodbye to muffins before I left the states, I’m not sure if I’m delighted or chagrined to report that this year, for the first time in my experience, Europe is covered with muffins. I don’t mean those puck-like pastries that only residents of the British Isles think are muffins (we Americans know [...]

I’m sitting in the first of three planes that will take me to my final destination in Italy, and I’ve already run across my first snag. Bad weather has delayed the plane for half an hour. As travel crises go it’s the most minor of the minor, but it’s still a setback – after counting [...]