My name is Daniela Alessandri, I’ve lived in Miami, Florida my entire life, up until graduation came around and I decided to move to Boston to study Fashion Merchandising and Event Management at Lasell College. I like to spend my free time binge watching Netflix shows, living at the beach, hanging out with friends and adventuring to find cute cafes/ brunch spots. This semester I was accepted to study abroad in Europe, so you can catch me wandering around through the very narrow streets of Florence, Italy, which so far has been one of the greatest opportunities of my life. From being able experience a completely new culture and travel somewhere new every weekend, every day here is a new adventure that I can’t wait to stumble upon.

This week was my Spring break and I planned a trip to Spain! Unfortunately all of my roommates had also planned spring break trips and I had to go solo…well only for half of it. One of my best friends from back home, who is also studying abroad was able to meet up with me in Barcelona for the second half of the week! With that being said I did travel solo for the first 5 days I was in Madrid and here is what I learned:

1. The embarrassment of asking for directions all while butchering the language of the country you’re in will fade away very quickly, so just get it over with
2. Just act like you know what you’re doing, eventually you’ll figure it out
3. ALWAYS get to the train station at least 15 minutes before your train says it’s going to depart. If your ticket says 7:20 it really means 7:15, welcome to Europe
4. Be sure to keep a screenshot or take note of the address of whatever hotel/hostel your staying at, because there isn’t always wifi everywhere you go (as much as we wish there was)
5. Take advantage of being able to do what you want, since you’re not with anyone you don’t have to compromise on certain things
6. Sometimes the best way to find new things is to just explore. So take one day where you don’t have any plans and just wander around the city you’re visiting (always be sure to have a map and your phone handy, exploring is great until you end up in the wrong part of town)

Purse Essentials:

• Charger + adapter (portable chargers work too)
• Headphones
• Cash (it’s always good to have at least a couple of dollars on you… I mean euros)
• Screenshots of all and any tickets you have
• Your student ID (there are endless amounts of discounts for students in Europe from museums, to city events)
• A photocopy of your passport. Unless you are traveling to/ from your destination you should not be carrying your actual passport around so a photocopy is a good alternative
• Camera
• Snacks! (All my friends tell me I have such a mom purse and although I’m completely guilty, they aren’t complaining when they’re getting hungry on the 5 hour train ride were on and I pull out a granola bar

~ Daniela

To read up more on Daniela’s adventures abroad visit her blog here –> Daniela’s Blog