No time like spring break. That is especially true while studying abroad because it is the only time during the semester where you are truly free to travel! If you schedule right, it is possible that every week can be a travel weekend because I know some people have all their classes on just two days of the week. Everyone has at least a 3 day weekend at Lorenzo de Medici since Fridays are always free, and I am one of those without the forethought to stack my schedule up and so I have only 3 days each week to work with.
For the most part this is enough time to have fun adventures and go on short day trips, but it is definitely not ideal when plane rides are involved. Spring break is the one exception to this normal schedule, and so we made the most of it. I personally didn’t have anywhere specific that I wanted to go because everywhere is new to me here, so we were able to maximize travels by booking the cheapest flights on RyanAir. These turned out to be Thessoloniki, Greece and Mallorca, Spain!
Cost
We were able to book these flights out of Milan for around $70 and $50 respectively after adding on a carry-on bag and we found Airbnb’s for around $60 each per destination. I was able to get by with around a budget of $350 total per place which included the trains, flights, Airbnb’s, activities, souvenirs, and food! Overall, for all that we did, I felt pretty happy with that amount to be able to go to see two different countries for 4 days each, especially after how expensive a weekend in Switzerland was.
Thessaloniki, Greece
Greece was a first place that we went to and as soon as we got there we could feel the difference from Florence. The first thing that I noticed was that Greek is in the Greek alphabet and so we couldn’t read or even sound things out like we could in Italy. Secondly, English is a lot less common there which meant that trying to communicate was a difficult task.
Having no knowledge of Greece and after doing no research, this was something I wasn’t ready for and was my first real experience of really feeling foreign. In Florence, most people speak some English which makes it easy to get around and buy what we need. Even the signs often had English or the Italian words were pretty similar to English ones so it is easy to guess what it means. When the signs are in a different alphabet, it definitely is disorienting to not know what is going on in the slightest. Also, Greek seemed to be a more difficult language to speak and so we couldn’t even really try to speak to speak the language to people and defaulted back to English which didn’t feel good. To me, it made me a little more cautious to go into Greek restaurants because I really had no idea what was going on.
Despite the initial culture shock, it was a fun place to be in and explore. The first day we got in, we had just spent the night in the Milano Bergamo airport, which did not result in much sleep, so we spent that day exploring our neighborhood, buying groceries, getting food, and then sleeping early. Following that, we were able to explore the historical sites of the city. In the center of the city there were a lot of attractions all within a mile of each other which made touring them pretty easy. We got to see art, castles, an old prison, statues, and Greek ruins all while getting a nice walking workout. The next day we rode electric bikes around and enjoyed the city for another day along with a great sunset. On the last day we headed to a beach town which was close to the airport. It had a good view, but it was cold and windy and a little dirty. Maybe the nice beaches of Hawaii have made me spoiled but it didn’t compare.
I had a fun time in Thessaloniki and enjoyed my stay there, but I am glad that we didn’t end up staying longer. After our four day stay, it felt like the other things to do required a car or some transportation, which we did not have and would add to the costs.
Mallorca, Spain
The next place that we headed to was Mallorca, which is an island off of spain. Unfortunately for us, a result of getting cheap flights was that we spent yet another night in the airport on the way, and so that was another day that was more laid back and spent around the area of our Airbnb. However, after that sleepy first day, Mallorca was amazing.
We spent our time on the east side of Mallorca, which is known for great nature and beaches. And it did not disappoint! Growing up in Hawaii, I had kind of taken warmth, beaches, and nature for granted. Florence has been cold since we had gotten there and is completely covered with cement and stones everywhere with rarely a patch of grass to be found. Going to Mallorca was the closest thing to Hawaii that I had seen since leaving and so it was a really nice comforting feeling to be there. We spent just about every day there lounging out on the beaches all day, finally getting some sun and tan in our skin, and overall just relaxing. Mallorca had some beautiful beaches and we also took a hike out to see the cliffs which were another breathtaking view. To me, there was no better feeling than being there and it made me realize that wherever I end up living after graduating, I am going to need nice beaches and warmth for most of the year otherwise I might go crazy.
The only tricky thing being there was that we didn’t go during tourist season. This could be a good thing because we got to have the beaches mostly to ourselves, but it also meant that a lot of shops and restaurants were not open. It almost felt like a ghost town walking through the town near our Airbnb with only a few people out and all the doors closed and windows dark. Several shops and restaurants that we were able to go to had actually just opened up either while we were there or a few days prior. We actually saw one of the stores putting stuff on their shelves while we were shopping because they hadn’t been open for months and it had literally been empty. There was enough open to keep us fed which was all that mattered but I have never seen a town that was that seasonal and made for tourists like that, so that was an interesting experience.
Overall, it was a fantastic spring break and I had a lot of fun. With all the traveling along with surviving the airport overnight two times during the break, it felt like we had been traveling for weeks on end by the time we got back to Florence, in a good way. It was nice to be home by the time we got back, but I am going to miss being carefree and having adventures from sunrise to sunset with our friends as our temporary roommates. Traveling is fun on its own, but traveling with good company is about as good as life gets.
Food!
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of all the food that we had, but I'd say at least half of it was home cooked meals to help save money. But nonetheless there was many tasty treats that look as good as they tasted!
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