For most NYU students studying abroad, spring break just waved goodbye. One of the appeals of studying away in Europe is how close together countries are, making trips way shorter and cheaper than in the United States. While I don’t recommend traveling every single weekend, most people prefer to leave their respective study abroad sites whenever they have enough free time. Traveling is great; it pushes you to stand tall on your own two feet and to brainstorm solutions quickly, but it can take away time from exploring your own abroad site as well. You don’t want to be the person who cannot recommend a single local restaurant, bar or fun event to your friends when you get back. Even worse, you don’t want to feel like you don’t have vivid memories of the main place you lived in when abroad. Yes, take advantage of your location, but don’t feel pressured to pin every single place you ever wanted to visit, or to extrapolate your budget, just to spend less than 24 hours somewhere. Save bigger trips — the ones that take longer than three hours of transportation — for longer breaks.

For those of us who are already abroad, news already started spreading and most will be back humming “New York, New York” in the dirty, crowded sidewalks in a matter of a short seven weeks. But, while we are still breathing fresh air — contemplating the beauty of a trash-free landscape and trying to successfully order food in a foreign language —  there’s still time to be astonished at the marvelous out-of-the-country sights, some of which students have visited during their breaks.

Email Carine Zambrano at [email protected].