Lessons for a lifetime

I meant to write this almost a year ago seeing as that’s when I got back from my excursion to Germany. Unfortunately, it took and episode of Band of Brothers to rekindle my urge to write about my experience at the Dachau Concentration Camp.

Although none of the original 34 barracks still stand (one has been recreated), a big part of the camp still remains, now turned into a museum. But the point of this post isn’t necessarily to describe the camp, so if you’re looking for a sketch of Dachau, your best bet is to go to their site.

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Now that the holidays are coming to an end, you probably have a nice wad of cash burning a hole in your pocket. If you’re going to be abroad next semester, here’s a list of things you might want to consider investing in:

• The Ultimate Study Abroad Guide: The title pretty much says it all.  Everything I’ve learned and researched about studying abroad all in one easy to download e-book.

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Pop Inn Hostel

Here goes, another one of my professional quality hostel reviews. This one’s about a little gem we found in Rome called the Pop Inn Hostel.

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Don’t forget to check out my new book The Ultimate Study Abroad Guide!

A lot of people don’t realize that studying abroad isn’t limited to undergraduate work. If you’re looking to continue your study abroad experience after graduation or begin a new one, here are some scholarship and award opportunities for postgraduate travel and study abroad to get you started.

The Fulbright Grants support one year of post-graduate study overseas in any field. Awards are available to conduct independent research, to act as teaching assistants of English, or to support the projects of creative artists. There are about 1,100 awards each year sending American students to about 140 different countries. Each grant provides tuition (for those enrolled in a course of study), living expenses, travel costs and insurance as determined by the host country.

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So you’re on Hostelworld.com ready to book your hostel with a few friends.  You’ve easily narrowed down your choices by price and ranking, but are wondering how to sort through the over 200 hostels still available in your city of destination.  Well here is a list of necessary requirements that will make your stay a lot more pleasurable.  As a matter of fact, if the hostel doesn’t meet all of these requirements, I won’t even consider it.

1.    Location: Hostelworld.com has a great ranking feature which includes location (I usually say anything above an 80% is good).  Take it one step further, and using Google maps, figure out where in the city you will be located.  If you’re 20 miles outside the city and most of the major attractions, you’ll be paying a lot extra for transportation to and from the city center.

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