As a third-year college student attending Colorado State University in Fort Collins, I jumped at the chance to study abroad. Trading in a semester of snow and freezing temperatures for beautiful architecture and centuries-old art was a no-brainer.
I was so excited that I filled out the application to study in Florence nearly a year before the day I would depart. Four months in Florence, Italy, was comparable to the cost of a semester at my state school. After talking to my parents and counselor, I believed the cultural experience and travel opportunities were worth it.
I knew that when I arrived, I would have to budget when traveling —doing so through communal hostel stays and low-cost airlines. I was prepared for overstuffed backpacks and bus tickets; upon arrival, though, it became clear that pinching pennies was not on everyone’s agenda.
The other students are jet-setting every weekend to expensive locations
The first few days in Florence were comparable to a freshman welcome week. The time was full of activities, including hikes, dinners, and other various ventures to get students to meet one another. My roommates and I attended one of the dinners to make connections before classes began.
Standing among groups of strangers, I expected to converse about majors and hometowns; however, I witnessed a quiet competition between students on who would be going to the most places in the coming months.
Comments such as “I have every weekend planned and booked” or “I would go, but I’ve already been” were stacked on top of one another as my peers attempted to one-up each other. At this time, I had a total of zero trips planned. When caught in these conversations, I felt oddly pressured to also fill my calendar each weekend, accompanied by the feeling of stress due to not being able to afford travel every five days. I feared I would be left behind.
I’ve been here for over two months, and this conversation hasn’t ended. Every Monday, I hear whispers about where my peers had jet-setted to days before. Places like Dubai and Morocco have been mentioned, leaving me just as shocked as that first dinner. I knew studying abroad was a privilege before getting here, but “a weekend in Dubai” was not what I expected.
Nobody is ‘roughing it’ like I thought they would be
My spring break was only three weeks into the start of the semester, and this was when I decided to take my first trip. When booking, I scoured sites, such as KAYAK and Skyscanner, but plane tickets and hotels were still extremely pricey. Eventually, my roommates and I decided to spend five days in Prague after finding affordable tickets on Ryanair. One of the greatest appeals of Prague was it was walkable, cheap, and had a good nightlife — my top three requirements as a traveling college student.
My three roommates and I booked a studio apartment for around $100 each for a total of five nights. It took us two trains, one bus, a plane, and some walking to get there, but the price was right. I was excited for the following week and felt satisfied with our trip and housing accommodations.
That was until I scrolled through Instagram to see my peers skiing in the Alps and skydiving in Copenhagen. It was almost unbelievable that the people I attend classes with could afford this style of travel while my school backpack was stuffed with a week’s worth of clothes cause I opted out of the carry-on baggage fee Ryanair required.
I thought everyone at this stage made sacrifices when traveling, but I was mostly wrong.
I’m convinced people are traveling for the sake of their Instagram
I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that anyone can experience a new country in the span of 48 hours.
I do know, however, that people are really good at making their time away look like the best time ever on my Instagram feed. It’s as if they’re collecting comments like postcards or putting another notch in their belts by showing one another how many stamps they have accumulated in their passports.
Traveling while studying abroad is a competitive sport with a large price tag that no one told me to train for.
I’ve learned that such comparisons defeat the purpose of traveling. Maybe I haven’t flown on the best airlines or stayed in an oceanfront villa, but my experiences abroad have been enriching and allowed me to engage with other cultures. Best of all? I didn’t have to spend much money, and my Instagram still looks good.
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