| I had a good experience right after college. Went to Germany for 21 days. Stayed with an exchange student I had become friends with senior year in high school and we kept in contact. She had my girlfriend and I stay at her home in a little town Nagold. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagold We stayed with their family for a week, experiencing the smaller town life, hiking in the black forest and going to the market for fresh bread every morning. We then rented a vehicle and traveled around the Autobahn visiting many major cities and either staying at a hostel ($20 a night per person plus an amazing breakfast included!), or with a mutual friend of her's whom she had met in college. There are only a few Universities in Germany so she knew someone is almost all the major cities we stayed at and it was nice to converse with them in their home, trade stories and experience the night life as a local would. We did go to a few tourist areas which were neat to experience, however most of the fun did come from 'off the beaten path' where you got to interact with locals and see more of the slower, simple life. One thing that I found astonishing is the amount you can converse/communicate with someone even if you don't speak their language. Granted most people in Germany can understand English well, but with the few broken phrases I learned before going I was able to do quite well when our translator (my friend from high school) would not be with us sometimes. I much would rather do this, go to one specific country rather than go to 14 countries in 10 days. Haven't traveled since as work/school/family is now my priority but doing at least one travel to get out of your comfort zone is a good experience I think everyone should get to experience once (if they want to). |