Travelling the Country in a Semester:
A Poignant Dream or a Fulfilling Reality?
A new travel destination from a new perspective
Hugo, one of the Exchange at Penn Correspondents, shares his experience here at Penn during the Spring 2025 semester. Follow along with the group of correspondents on our blog and look out for their images on the @pennabroad Instagram feed.
As spring break creeps up, it brings with it a tantalizing promise of a much-needed pause—a week that vanishes in the blink of an eye. It suddenly hit me: I’ve already lived through half of my semester, half of my study abroad experience. I was counting when it hit a quarter, then a third; now I can’t even shrink the denominator anymore. Time has slipped away, and it feels like I’m counting the last bits of sand in an hourglass fall, wishing it would only freeze still… and the moment linger just a little longer.
Many have asked what I wanted to do while abroad. To me and my simple mind that can’t plan beyond the next week, there was only one word. Travel! And maybe more travel…
But when you’re confronted with a sea of options, experiences and people, it washes over you in an overwhelming tidal wave. Travel? Sure! But when you’re busy with academics, meeting new friends, or just soaking in the atmosphere of Penn’s campus, it’s easy for your plans to become lost in the shuffle. A dozen things clamor for your
attention—each tugging in unremitting unison at the fleeting blip that each weekend feels like.
It feels intimidating to press the buy button on a set of cheap non-refundable fares. Where’s the room to second-guess yourself, see something new, and pop comfortably into a third-guessing spiral.
But being in the beating heart of a Northeast megalopolis made me realise. No longer do I need to drive for nine hours to reach the next major city (hello Australia). A new city is only a skip, hop and a jump away.
When I snagged a cheap theater ticket to see a Broadway show, all I had to do was click buy on a couple of Amtrak tickets and I was in New York—never mind the fact that I had class that day, and even more classes the next day (and no, I’m not advocating for skipping them 😉). It made me realize how easily I could tap into the pulse of nearby cities—gazing upon the swirling snow gently veiling Manhattan while ravaging on a pizza slice at midnight.
And repeating the formula. A Flixbus catching the tail end of the night, and I was in Baltimore to see the sunrise and Annapolis to enjoy a sleepy town come to life in the morning. It was back in Baltimore to absolutely devour some classic Maryland blue crabs, and home sweet home (my dorm room that is) by night, resting up for another exciting EAP excursion the next day.
And now with the second half of my semester, my what a difference spring makes. The frigid winter only a distant memory and the city alive with new energy. Four months abroad may have seemed like an eternity to my clueless self back in Australia – boarding the plane with plans for my time abroad as nebulous as my future career goals. But now, as I scroll through the list of places I want to visit in my notes app, I’m reminded that four months isn’t nearly enough to see and do everything on my growing list. Time is flying by, and the only thing left to do is savor each moment, slicing through any obstacles like a merciless whirlwind.
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