Oh the places we go... Planning group travel destinations for FSU students means to see great sights and to soar to high heights
Visiting the city of Segovia is a side trip for FSU students who go to Madrid.
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lanes, trains, boats, buses, and beyond. Castles in Segovia, museums in Madrid, and beach excursions in Mallorca. These examples are just a fragment of the travel plans Florida State University organizes for students who are studying abroad in Valencia, Spain. Coordinating even a one-week vacation for a few people to a new city provides a challenge. Imagine accomplishing this goal for about 220 study abroad students in a foreign country. Who chooses the educational exhibitions and destinations that make the cut while traveling to these new places? A big part of the answer comes down to Paula Acosta, FSU Valencia’s cultural program coordinator. She started working for FSU in 2017, and she spends her days coordinating travel plans and educational activities for FSU International Programs students in Valencia. Originally a native of Uruguay, Acosta went to study at the University of Valencia in 2012. She received a degree in ethical tourism, and she has stayed in Spain. Where does Acosta even begin with the planning, since these trips are too
complex to be put together overnight? In fact, sometimes these trips are booked up to one year in advance. An important decision in the planning process, according to Acosta, “starts with the hotel.” Destinations are chosen not only for the purpose of culture, education, and experience but also the relativity—what’s around the area; what educational experiences FSU can show students that they may not be able to access on their own? Once this has been established, the excursions and other details can be planned. Location scouting for the organized student trips can be a challenging task, however, keeping in mind political situations, cultural events, and security. “We have to think about everything,” Acosta says. “Do we have the police phone number? What happens if a student gets hurt? Do we have the city hall number?” Barcelona is usually a top choice in travel destination for both the spring and summer semesters, “because you know… it’s Spain—you have to do it,” Acosta says. However, in 2019 the political situation was unpredictable, as many controversies surrounded the region,
By Chloe Addleson
Photo by Chloe Addleson
Catalonia, at the time. In fact, FSU’s chosen dates for the trip to Barcelona were during the Catalonian political elections, and FSU chose to avoid traveling to an area of risk with such a big group of students. In addition, the planning team had been thinking about changing things up for 2019 anyway: “This was the perfect opportunity to try something new,” Acosta says. So, in the spring of 2019, FSU took students to the region of Andalusia. Within this region, students had the chance to explore the cities of Cordoba, Seville, and Granada. “We chose these three cities because of all the history,” Acosta says. The second organized trip of the spring semester was to northern Spain, where students had the chance to explore the cities of Burgos and León. “We did a bit of Camino de Santiago—a pilgrimage around 500 kilometers long that normally takes months—but we did just a tiny part of it,” Acosta says. All of these trips were chosen to highlight Spain—its culture, history and landscape—giving students learning experi-
“We have to think about everything. Do we have the police phone number, what happens if a student gets hurt, do we have the city hall number?” — Paula Acosta, FSU Valencia’s cultural program coordinator 28 Nomadic Noles // Summer 2019
