Harvey Scholar Travel- Santana in Hungary

    My name is Santana and because of the Harvey Scholarship I was able to study abroad in Budapest, Hungary for the 2014 fall semester. Today is actually my last full day in Budapest, as tomorrow I will travel to Barcelona for a few days and then onwards to the good ol’ USA. Living in a different country with an entirely different culture has been a true adventure. I have learned so much about myself and my perception of the world has definitely changed. My comfort zone has been stretched and pulled and pushed and I have loved every minute of it. When I first arrived here I noticed two major differences between America and Hungary. First, the stop signs were different and secondly, everyone took public transportation everywhere. As I traveled to more and more cities my list of differences grew exponentially, which I think is a good thing. It has been great to get to know people who experience life differently than I do; Europeans were fascinated with my home country and I was fascinated with theirs. Whenever I was planning a trip I would just ask one of the exchange students from that town or country where to go and what to do. They never lead me wrong on any of my trips, which is saying something because I traveled every other weekend. During my time here I got to see parts of Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Italy. I cannot begin to count the experiences I’ve had while being abroad. I think my favorite adventure so far was biking around Amsterdam. In case you didn’t know, about 35% of the traffic in Amsterdam comes from people on bicycles, so on my last day in Amsterdam I decided to rent a bike. It was exhilarating and immensely terrifying at the same time. You could always tell the natives from the tourists, mostly because the natives would whizz by you, leaving you with only the sound of their bicycle bells.  At the end of the day I only fell off my bike one time and I got to see Amsterdam from a different perspective. My time in Europe has come to an end and I could not be more grateful for the Harvey Scholarship. Saying goodbye is always bittersweet but I know I will return to Budapest someday, as it will always hold a special place in my heart.