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When the Fall and Spring semesters come to an end, the campus grows quiet and most students leave the Franklin facilities to make space for J-term students or to return home to spend time with family, friends, and loved ones. However, if you are like me, you can also alternatively engage and explore your surroundings in Independent Travel, enriching your education and interests for other European countries close to Switzerland. You can easily create the perfect trip, based on your own tastes, flexibility and quality time preferences, and the best part is that being stationed in Switzerland means that so many countries are quite literally on your doorstep - so easy to travel to, but all so very different and unique in their own way.

During this past winter break, I decided to embrace my adventurous side and treated myself to a solo trip to discover and visit six different cities in four different countries: Geneva, in Switzerland; Dijon, Beaune, and Annecy, in France; Breda, in the Netherlands; and Rome, in Italy. The reasons behind choosing these four were very different, the first ones offered the advantage of having family and friends hosting me, while Rome, because... Why not? It is so beautiful! I started my trip towards Geneva from Lugano, with a 6-hour train ride. In Geneva, I stayed at my uncle's house through Christmas and enjoyed family quality time there incredibly! The best part? My uncle and his boyfriend are really good cooks, and they made a ton of amazing dishes, including a 5-course traditional Japanese meal, the best avocado toast ever (take a look at the pictures below) as well as some very nice Palestinian food, and typical French cuisine and desserts, (tarte tatin!) and much more.��

To be quite honest, the food had the best of me at my stop in Geneva, and the weather was quite cloudy during my stay, therefore I didn't explore as much as I had planned to. Nevertheless, it was a great opportunity to wind down after the Fall semester and relax. With everything so close in terms of geography, I took advantage of the fact that France was just around the corner and took three-day trips to Dijon and Beaune, where I shopped through antique markets and stores, and to Annecy to enjoy some yummy crepes and walk through the wonderful and all so colorful streets (look at those colors below in the gallery!).

Leaving Switzerland after Christmas, I then took a 10-hour train on my way to Breda, in The Netherlands, where a friend was so kind to lend me her cozy apartment while she was away. As to my luck, when I arrived The Netherlands was in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so I was forced to spend most of my time at the apartment. I did however enjoy the quiet time with myself, and dedicate to my drawing and sketching passion especially (take a look at some of my artwork ). I also stayed through New Year's Eve and got a glimpse of the crazy amount of fireworks shooting in the dutch sky. It’s difficult to say if I really liked Bredaor or not because I didn't get the chance to live its spirit and identity, but I will definitely go back sometime soon to visit my friend and enjoy some walks around.

A couple of days into 2022, I then took a flight to Rome, Italy, where I met up with my ����ӰԺ roommate, Kylee, and we stayed in the most curious Airbnb ever (just look at the building in the image below!) - It was literally called “a livable sculpture”. Kylee had never been to Rome, while I had already visited in 2017, so being an improvised tour guide and showing her my favorite spots and places in the Eternal City was probably the most fun I had on this trip. This is where I did most of the walking, a full week exploring all the corners of Rome, and honestly, I’ll probably never get tired of it as I adore it.��

On the second week of January, my Independent Travel adventure came to an end, and I headed by train back to Switzerland and the Lugano campus, and even though both Kylee and I were happy to have spent some incredible vacation time visiting some amazing places, we also really missed the amazing vibe that Lugano and the Franklin campus offer. As the saying goes "there is no place like home."

In conclusion, the fun and incredibly beneficial perk about living here in Switzerland is that it is so convenient, easy and accessible to take a day or longer trips outside of your country, and it doesn’t even have to be during holidays or the summer, as you can jump on a flight or train to anywhere for a short weekend getaway and have a blast! Plus, cheap flights and train tickets are not difficult to find if you’re open to explore anywhere. Here you can find some useful tips on travel passes and more. So have fun and travel! There’s a lot to discover and see in this world!

Antonia Magallanes Sachot '25