Pros of Study Abroad:

1) Spend more time in Europe and in a country of particular interest- On a normal vacation or cross continental trip, you are always on the move and can only see big cities and resorts. By living in Italy, I have been able to explore the entire Italian peninsula which I found significant and would have been able to do this if I just rushed through the usual triangle Venice, Florence, and Rome (I did spend time in all of these places though).  I have learned a lot about Italian culture and been able to explore major sights along with hidden gems off the beaten path (San Marino, the bone church in Rome, etc.). I have also had time to go to a variety of Italian restaurants and try a variety of incredible dishes of new varieties of food for the first time that are not available in America.

2) Learning a Language- Living in a country outside the Anglosphere serves as a great environment to learn a foreign language without the pressure of grades. I am not the most gregarious person, but I have increased my Italian skills to basic understanding and competent reading, writing, and speaking abilities. I cannot have a conversation about the merits of Plato versus Aristotle, but I can do basic things such as navigate the city, order food at restaurants, read pamphlets, signs, and other things and speak with a basic vocabulary. When I was accepted into this program, I did not speak a single word of Italian, now due to being surrounded by it all the time, I have caught a lot quicker than I learned Spanish with four years of classes.

3) Saves Money/Time in Transit- Since costs usually are similar to the levels of tuition at my home university (for readers this depends where you go to school), basic expenses such as food and shelter are not an additional costs. Therefore my only travel costs ended up being flights, a eurail pass, activities, and lodging.

4) More of a Learning Experience both in and out of the classroom- Study abroad provides a chance to learn about cultural differences between your host country and your homeland (the US in my case).  You also learn a lot about yourself and your inner character based on how you adapt to new series of challenges you handle every day. I also learned what I valued the most of my life in America and what truly is important to me in life. My classes also teach economics from an international perspective. Seeing how the rest of the world views American policies and culture also provides interesting insight. I have also learned a lot in the same ways from my travels outside of Milan.

5) Getting to know local people- Even though I am a bad example of this, study abroad provides an opportunity t expand your network to people from around the world. If your language skills are poor or are somewhat introverted, this may be tougher than expected.

Cons of Study Abroad:

1) Being separated from friends and family for a long time

2) Schoolwork- Traveling and time studying in Europe is not as carefree as a vacation. You still have to study, take tests, worry about grades, and possibly have homework to deal with. At my school, grades are solely determined by exams, so I did not have to worry about papers or projects, but some of my friends such as Matt from Rome had to write essays for his classes. If you plan your studying right, this should not be a problem. However, students already are prone to procrastinate without opportunities to travel across Europe.

3) Shorter durations of travel- Since you are restricted by school days and exam times, your time in a individual place is limited. However, this is not that much of a problem because three day weekend are common in European universities so you have at least three days per destination. Also there are breaks for midterms and state holidays that can give breaks from five days as long as two weeks depending on the break. Overall the combination of weekends gives plenty of time of travel, but usually in smaller increments. This may also limit destinations that require connecting flights, because the time getting takes too long for the destination to be even worth going. This is one reason I chose to go to Marrakech, Morocco instead of Istanbul, Turkey.

Recommended Cities for Students to study abroad to maximize travel opportunities: London, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Dublin, major cities of Switzerland, Brussels, and Berlin. These cities are major hubs for discount airlines that can take you pretty much anywhere in Europe for under $180 round trip (usually $80-120). Also they are close (3 hours or less on train) to a lot of closer destination within their country or surrounding neighbors. Even though, I’m not the biggest fan of Milan, but its role in European business has allowed me to go anywhere from Morocco to Greece at a reasonable price.

Pros of Eurotrip:

1) Spend times with your friends- It is more fun to travel with your friends versus going on your own or with strangers. Fortunately I know people who live/study across Europe and had visitors from the states to travel with, so my solo journeys were limited to Portugal and parts of Northern Italy.

2) Possibly cover more ground – A Eurotrip depending on the traveler’s budget, will be able to cover a significant portion of Europe and several countries over a few weeks. With no central place to return to for class, you can simply take one way flights, and trains from Portugal to Turkey. During my time I have been able to cover a significant amount of countries (see blue and purple colored nations on map below)

3) No need to worry about academics- Since you on vacation, you do not need to worry about school, work, or really anything. Being carefree is a nice and relaxing way to travel.

Cons of Eurotrip:

1) Costly in both time and money- Traveling across Europe is not cheap, especially if you have no prior reasons of being there. First it is difficult to find a block of time where you can be gone for several months at a time. Second, it’s not cheap to get to Europe, find places to stay, and transport yourself all over the place. A weak dollar only compounds  this. Many Eurotrippers force themselves to slum it and sleep in only the cheapest and crummiest lodging and live off of Ramen, fast food, and beer. What’s the point of travel if you have to spend your whole time slumming it along the way? It is also nice to have a home base at where you attend class, so you don’t always have to be walking around with a huge backpack and constantly wander like a Mongolian nomad.

2) Lack of time in one place to immerse yourself in a culture- Eurotrips are intended for those who have not traveled to try to see everything in their single opportunity to visit the region. Therefore you don’t have the time that an exchange student does to really experience a particular nation’s culture or learn any language.

3) Spending too much time in transit- A Eurotrip if you are not careful can become a blur of train stations and airports. Often in the desire to maximize the places one can see, people often just try to breeze through the continent in the short few weeks in the summer they have time to be there. By studying abroad, I have been able to spread out my travel at a less breakneck pace. Also its not enjoyable to sit in planes and trains all the time.

Recommended Eurotrip Route (If I was going to do this and did not go to Bocconi and had a large budget) : London-Marrakech,Morocco-Lisbon-Madrid-Barcelona- French Riviera/Monaco- Provence-Paris-Brussels-Luxembourg-Zurich-Other parts of Switzerland-Venice-Florence-Rome-Naples/Pompeii-Sardinia-Sicily-Malta-Puglia (Southern Italy)-Dubrovnik, Croatia-Athens-Greek Islands-Istanbul-Vienna-Berlin-Copenhagen-Stockholm-Bergen, Norway-Home

Another option is to combine the two. Spend a semester abroad and after finals, go spend a few weeks on a mini-Eurotrip. This can possibly provide the best of both worlds.

Extent of my European Travels (as of December 8, 2009 including future trips)

Blue= Countries I visited the first time during my time here

Purple= Countries I revisited during my time here

Red= Countries I visited from previous times to Europe

Gold dots= Cities I went during my time here

Things that I have done here this weekend include more reading, oversleeping, teaching myself more about geopolitics and finance, and going on a walk on Saturday night. I also started auditing a Stanford class about geopolitics through lectures recorded on a iTunes U podcast. It’s amazing how much information prestigious universities give away for free as I did this also with a Berkeley class about the Roman Empire when I lived in the Best Western. Geopolitics is a topic that I find interesting and the knowledge I learn about it also helps with international investing decisions. Overall, that can summarize my weekend.

How do you readers feel about taking a Eurotrip versus Studying Abroad? Please share your opinion by commenting on this post.