What I learned traveling solo in college

This past summer, I traveled to the beautiful country of Italy all on my own. I’ve wanted to travel solo for quite some time now, but I had to convince myself for a full year before I finally got the courage to go. And damn, I’m really glad I did. While my best friend does live in Florence and it helped a lot, and although I did spend time with her, I was on my own for the majority of the trip. This may sound extremely cliche, but I never thought I would learn so much about myself and about another culture in just 3 weeks. 

Home is not a place, it’s a feeling

I’ve learned this over all of my travels, but I never felt it more than in this one moment. I was wandering around Sorrento after getting dinner with some new friends I made at my hostel, and I decided to stop in this old church. (Side note: when you’re in Europe, always stop in churches when you can. They are free and usually stunning.) I happened to walk in just a few minutes before mass started and I decided to stay for part of it. I was raised Catholic and went to private school for the majority of my education, so church has always felt like home even though I am no longer religious. I can’t quite describe what I was feeling. I just felt so at home, even though I was in a church by myself thousands of miles from my actual home.

You will have bad days when you are traveling, but those bad days are still good days in comparison

Don’t get mad at yourself when you have a bad or frustrating day while traveling, because it happens. Embrace the bad days. Because even on those bad days, you are discovering new places, meeting new people, and learning about yourself and the culture you are in. There were plenty of days where I felt frustrated because I kept getting lost or I felt lonely, but I still had great moments during those days. While in Sorrento, I was wandering around trying to find the marina to buy a ticket to go to Capri the next day. I kept circling the area and not finding it, and got really mad at myself because it shouldn’t be that hard, but I eventually found the place, bought my ticket, and decided to find somewhere to eat. I stopped into one of the little tourist info shops and asked the man working where the locals eat. He directed me to Marina Grande. Moments later I was eating the best seafood pasta of my life while watching the sun set over the water. 

The people you meet will make your trip

You really will meet people from all over the world, especially if you stay in hostels, and it’s so incredible. My first night in Italy I stayed at Ostello Bello Grande in Milan. I remember sitting on the rooftop that night with 20 people or so, listening to all their stories: where they come from, where they’ve been and where they are going to next. And all of these individual people were so amazing, and it made me aspire to be like them one day.

Sleep is necessary. Wifi is not

Not much more to be said about that one. Solo travel taught me to get off my phone, and get back to living.

Don’t try to do too much in one day

Vacation should be relaxing! Try to go with the flow and be spontaneous. When I went to Rome I saw pretty much everything you’ve seen in your history textbook (the Colosseum, Vatican, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, and more) in under 36 hours. It was worth it because I didn’t know if I would ever get to go back, but I also wasn’t really enjoying myself. I was tired, had huge blisters, and didn’t make any friends because I was running around through the mass of tourists like a mad woman. The days I remember being the happiest are the ones where I just wandered around, slept in, and didn’t take anything too seriously, especially the day I abandoned all my plans to go to Portofino with my hostel-mates.

Traveling solo will seriously change your life

I really didn’t think this trip would change my life, but it did. I learned to laugh at myself when no one is around, that finding the best view of the city will always make my heart happy, and that the gelato and coffee in Italy can’t be recreated anywhere else. But, above all, I proved to myself that I could do this. I could fund a trip to a foreign country and be genuinely happy on my own.

While reflecting on my journal, I found this quote. “As I started packing up, it really hit me that I’m going back to the states already. Although I’m excited to start my senior year, I’m really going to miss Italy. I’ve grown so much these last 2.5 weeks. I wouldn’t change them for the world and I’m so happy I made myself do this.”

Grazie Italy, for helping me grow so much as a person and reminding me that it’s the little things in this life that make it worth living (especially gelato).