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Are weekend trips abroad really a great experience, or just pointless indulgence?
More and more study abroad students seem to travel around Europe every weekend these days. Ever since the emergence of low-cost budget airlines, weekend 'city breaks' have been touted as the sophisticated and convenient way to connect with the continent – a thousand urban destinations are just a click away and at 40 euro for a return flight, everyone can “do Prague” for two days with no problem.
I guess I can't fault it too much, apart from the obvious environmental implications of going on ten trips a year instead of one or none (twenty flights per person per year means that the world will melt by 2017 and the fish will take over – and you know the fish don't like us so much). I just think its a shame. Its not just the fact that these trips afford so little time to see a place that its unlikely that it'll even be remembered in six months time. Its also the fact that so much of Florence life gets missed – school and the usual club nights from monday to thursday, skip the country from friday to sunday, sling the pictures up on Facebook and start all over again.
I sometimes feel the urge to confiscate people's passports and sternly point our that, “You get to live in Florence for a really really short stretch...save your money and time, chill for a weekend and see what Florentines – the people you chose to come and live amongst - get up to when they're not at work”.
There are exhibitions and parks and piazze, there's wine and music and going 'in giro' on sunday afternoon. There's a lot more to Florence than I think most people see. Why spend all weekend in an airport and a youth hostel when you could go out of your way to find something in Tuscany that you've never found before. That said, even the most justified rant needs to know when to stop, so I will – right now.
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