According to GoAbroad.com, the most popular study abroad locations of 2017 include Italy, Spain, England, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, China, Argentina and Costa Rica. Senior communications major Allie Lang decided to be a little different and spend a semester in Salzburg, Austria.
She said she wanted to explore around Austria, Switzerland and Germany, so Salzburg was the perfect location. Honesty, I went there just to put on a one woman reenactment of “The Sound of Music,” but I’ll accept whatever reasoning.
“One of the biggest struggles was not knowing German at all,” Allie said. “I took a class, but honestly that didn’t go very well.”
Thankfully, many people speak English in Europe, so she didn’t find it too hard to get around and communicate with people. This extended beyond her hometown of Salzburg, as she traveled to Munich, Prague, Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck, Florence, Zurich, Seville, Barcelona, Morocco, Brussels, Paris, Ghent and Amsterdam during her free time.
At Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence, Italy. The long walk uphill to get here is so worth the view.
Allie said she tried to make the most of every weekend to make sure she saw as much of the world as possible during her three and a half months away from home.
Many of the people I know who have studied abroad spent a lot of time traveling during their free time. Flights and train tickets between European countries can be shockingly cheap, so why not make the most of it when you don’t have to spend $1000+ on a round trip ticket from the U.S.?
A few months after returning from her semester abroad, Allie says the transition back into normal life in Lincoln hasn’t been the most fun. While of course she missed her friends and family, it’s hard to beat jetting off to a new city every weekend while exploring your home country a little more every day.
Beautiful Salzburg!