<p>Hello all. I'm gonna be a junior/senior in college and I'd like to study abroad.</p>
<p>Currently my options are:</p>
<p>Pau, France
Viterbo, Italy
Reggio-Emilia, Italy
Torino, Italy</p>
<p>I haven't been able to talk to my school program yet, but does anyone know if you're allowed to travel around on your weekends? Like hop on the train and go to london or anything?</p>
<p>Any must sees, advice, comments, concerns etc? Thank you.</p>
<p>You’d have a really hard time getting to London and back by train for a weekend from Pau, let alone anywhere in Italy.</p>
<p>My cousin told me when she stayed in Rome, she used to travel most of the time. It’s more of a chance to travel while studying (which isn’t all the time). I think she mainly explored Italy though, not other countries in Europe.</p>
<p>I don’t think London would be possible unless you had a 3 or 4 day weekend at some point. I went from London to Paris and that took 2 and a half hrs by train.</p>
<p>My daughter just returned from a semester abroad, and with the class schedule she had, there were four-day weekends/holidays, and she/a group of friends often went to visit other lands. I was amazed/impressed with how they did lining up travel, hostel reservations, etcetera. Re: which country, do you speak/know French/Italian or have an affinity towards wanting to learn one of them more than the other or ??? That could influence your choice of main country to study in, too. Wherever you end up, you are sure to have an amazing experience. :)</p>
<p>If you’re hoping to do a ton of travel around Europe, the options you’re considering now would probably be best for traveling within France and Italy and maybe into their bordering countries. If you’re determined to get to the UK, Netherlands, Germany, etc., then Torino would probably be your best bet because it’s not far from Milan, with its airport and train system. </p>
<p>I don’t think a train ride to London is in the cards from any of these places. Pau to London by train would be miserable (upwards of 10 hours, I would guess); even Pau to Paris would be difficult…probably an eight hour train ride or longer. You’d probably have to fly, but you could do so fairly inexpensively if you plan ahead. Ireland’s Ryan Air is a really good, cheap option–kind of like Southwest in America.</p>
<p>From Viterbo and R-E, your easiest trips are going to be within Italy (V is only about an hour and a half from Rome and an hour from Florence / Siena). Switzerland would also be within reach via train or bus. Otherwise, I think flying would be the easiest solution. </p>
<p>From Pau, you could probably train through Provence to Toulouse, Marseille, and Aix, and probably go as far as Nice / Monaco in the east. Madrid, Barcelona, and Andorra would probably be a 3-6 hour train ride to the west / south. </p>
<p>Apart from difficulty traveling outside of the immediate area, there are huge advantages to the smaller towns you’re looking at, especially if you’re interested in a true cultural immersion experience.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for all the help!</p>
<p>It is actually less expensive in many cases to take discount flights, on like easyjet. Trains have become my more expensive in recent decades. But you don’t have to stick to the “big cities”, there are plenty of less known yet fabulous ones. Get ready for a great adventure.</p>