During my time abroad I took many weekend trips to other countries. These budget trips were booked using the cheapest airlines and low rated hostels, but ended up always being an amazing time. One of my favorite aspects of these short vacations was the friendships I formed in my hostel rooms. Sometimes these rooms would have twenty people packed into bunkbeds or, if I was lucky, only six spaced apart twin beds.
My first trip was to Portugal with one other friend from my program. We visited Porto and then took a bus to Lisbon. In Lisbon we stayed at a hostel where our room had six beds, but only four were occupied including our’s. These two other travelers were named Diana and Tylor. Diana was also a college student studying abroad in Barcelona and this was her second semester there, so she was very comfortable solo exploring. Tylor was in his late twenties and previously served in the US military. He had recently quit his job as a barber to travel for a few months around Europe. He even gave my friend Owen a haircut in the hostel! Both of these new characters were so different, yet we all got along very well. We explored Lisbon day and night, sharing meals and telling each other all about our lives. I now follow Tylor’s travels through social media and reunited with Diana when I visited Barcelona later down the line!
My next hostel friendship was formed in Copenhagen, one of my Spring Break stops. This hostel room was Elvis themed and packed. The first night my friends and I met Martha, a girl from England who was taking a gap year and traveling Europe. We invited her to join for the night and then continued to meet up with her throughout the city during our trip. It was so interesting to discuss how different and similar our childhoods and current lives can be even though we grew up in different countries. I am also following along with Martha’s journey through social media, she is currently in Amsterdam!
My last friendship that I would like to highlight is Johnny from Belfast, Northern Ireland. This was my trip to Barcelona with the same friend from Portugal, Owen. We already planned to reunite with Diana, but made a new friend on this trip as well. Johnny was the most high spirited and positive person I had ever met, he loved teaching us Irish slang and discussing politics. Owen, Diana, Johnny, and I hung out the entire Barcelona trip, such a fun and spontaneous group. I also plan to reconnect with Johnny once I visit my friend studying abroad in Belfast, hopefully it happens!
I chose to reflect on these friendships because hostels are an ever-changing dynamic of people who come from all over the world and have different reasons for traveling. You can learn a lot from these new friendships and while they can be fleeting or temporary, it very special when they stick and resurface later on. I was exposed to different perspectives constantly and these conversations left impressions on me. Hearing about the conflict between Northern Ireland and the UK first hand from Johnny taught me more than I had read in any article. Or visiting Barcelona and getting an in-depth tour from Diana who had been studying there all year, she had taken classes on art and architecture which she told us fun facts about as we explored. Even Tylor and Martha who I keep up with through social media and texting. Having friendships around the world gives me connections abroad even once I leave. People who shaped my experiences in different cities around Europe. I learned how to adapt to quickly formed friendships and keeping them after. So thankful for this abroad experience and the new friends I have made from my travels!