# I'll soon be a student with free time in Europe! What should I do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 18, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-soon-be-a-student-with-free-time-in-europe-what-should-i-do/260450 "2004-08-18T20:29:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carimwc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@carimwc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carimwc)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-soon-be-a-student-with-free-time-in-europe-what-should-i-do/260450/21 "2004-08-20T13:35:50Z")
Barbarian is right. Eurrail passes are generally only sold outside of Europe. Rick Steves’ website usually has a lot of information about obtaining eurrail passes. I’d check it ouy. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-soon-be-a-student-with-free-time-in-europe-what-should-i-do/260450/22 "2004-08-20T14:08:31Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Oh, I just remembered one big catch. > > You may need to buy your Eurail pass outside Europe! Check with a travel agent. Yeah, most of the kinds of passes need to be bought here in Canada before I leave. That’s why I’m trying to figure out where I’m going to go during those twelve days, to compare the price of the pass to the price of individual trip tickets. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-soon-be-a-student-with-free-time-in-europe-what-should-i-do/260450/23 "2004-08-20T15:10:54Z")
Ok, you don’t do beer. . . check out the chocolate. My favorite of the big-company chocolate is Neuhaus. I don’t like chocolate much, but Belgian chocolate is pretty amazing. Fritten-- yes. Try samourai sauce-- a bit spicy, which is good. Also recommendable Belgian grub: stoverij (kind of like burgundy beef, with fries-- mm). Oh, warning-- anything called “americain”, especially concerning hamburger meat, is something you want to avoid (it’s very lean hamburger served raw, like in sandwiches on a little platter with a raw egg and tabasco, generally-- look at sandwich ingredients carefully-- “club sandwich” here often connotes americain). Also cooked hamburgers in Belgium tend to be made with pork/ turkey/ horse/ various things that aren’t beef, so they taste funny to us trans-Atlantic types. Also paard/cheval (horsie) is food here-- good to know. Bruges was an important cultural and economic capital in the late 15th century and then suddenly totally died until it was rediscovered by English tourists in the late 1800s, who have been coating it ever since. It’s a well preserved town and very cute. If your parents visit you have to take them there. I was in Leuven today actually-- very nice town in the summer. They’ve got it cuted up now that the students are out of town and the locals and tourists have taken it over temporarily. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-soon-be-a-student-with-free-time-in-europe-what-should-i-do/260450/24 "2004-08-20T15:40:36Z")
Another thing you can do easily from belgium is get the Eurostar to London (for about £70.00). Londons expensive though. Leuven is lovely too. Owl - Who’s first wife was from Leuven and therefore knows that bints from Leuven are all as mad as a box of frogs. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-soon-be-a-student-with-free-time-in-europe-what-should-i-do/260450/25 "2004-08-20T16:18:44Z")
> [@capybara](#): > > Ok, you don’t do beer. . . check out the chocolate. My favorite of the big-company chocolate is Neuhaus. I don’t like chocolate much, but Belgian chocolate is pretty amazing. Fritten-- yes. Try samourai sauce-- a bit spicy, which is good. Also recommendable Belgian grub: stoverij (kind of like burgundy beef, with fries-- mm). > Oh, warning-- anything called “americain”, especially concerning hamburger meat, is something you want to avoid (it’s very lean hamburger served raw, like in sandwiches on a little platter with a raw egg and tabasco, generally-- look at sandwich ingredients carefully-- “club sandwich” here often connotes americain). Also cooked hamburgers in Belgium tend to be made with pork/ turkey/ horse/ various things that aren’t beef, so they taste funny to us trans-Atlantic types. Also paard/cheval (horsie) is food here-- good to know. > Bruges was an important cultural and economic capital in the late 15th century and then suddenly totally died until it was rediscovered by English tourists in the late 1800s, who have been coating it ever since. It’s a well preserved town and very cute. If your parents visit you have to take them there. > I was in Leuven today actually-- very nice town in the summer. They’ve got it cuted up now that the students are out of town and the locals and tourists have taken it over temporarily. Chocolate, fries, and stoverij, yes. Americain no. Got it 😉 And Bruges sounds neat. > [@](#): > > Another thing you can do easily from belgium is get the Eurostar to London Cool, and not especially expensive, but not a priority because I’ve been there before 🙂 I was on an Air Cadet exchange in 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-soon-be-a-student-with-free-time-in-europe-what-should-i-do/260450/26 "2004-08-24T13:05:45Z")
Hi- PragueDope costs: Pension is 45 Euros a night single, 55 for a double room (so you pay 27.50). PRobably 20 Euro for travel in the city, 20 Euro a day for food and beer (at nice places) and 20 euro for tickets, depending on where we go. So the whole weekend will cost you under 200 Euro including train ticket on an easy budget, I think. Max 250. If you stay in a hostel and eat gulash I bet you could get down to 100 Euros. Take care- -Tcat ps- you might be able to get a ride with people from A’dam…you could meet up somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![Ardrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ardrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ardrine)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-soon-be-a-student-with-free-time-in-europe-what-should-i-do/260450/27 "2004-08-24T17:30:52Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Oh, I just remembered one big catch. > > You may need to buy your Eurail pass outside Europe! Within Europe, you may be able to buy an [interrail ticket](http://www.interrail.net/web/index2.php4?language=en). But I’m not sure of the details so you should check this out and see if it would suit you. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-soon-be-a-student-with-free-time-in-europe-what-should-i-do/260450/28 "2004-08-24T21:48:02Z")
> [@Tomcat](#): > > Hi- > > PragueDope costs: Pension is 45 Euros a night single, 55 for a double room (so you pay 27.50). PRobably 20 Euro for travel in the city, 20 Euro a day for food and beer (at nice places) and 20 euro for tickets, depending on where we go. So the whole weekend will cost you under 200 Euro including train ticket on an easy budget, I think. Max 250. If you stay in a hostel and eat gulash I bet you could get down to 100 Euros. > > Take care- > -Tcat > ps- you might be able to get a ride with people from A’dam…you could meet up somewhere… In that case, I’d like to come. But I have to check with my employer to make sure the schedule works, and I can’t do that until I’m in Belguim (I leave in three days). So, put me down tentatively 🙂 I very much hope to be able to come. **Ardrine** , I’ll definitely look into that. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-soon-be-a-student-with-free-time-in-europe-what-should-i-do/260450/29 "2004-08-24T21:55:04Z")
> [@Ardrine](#): > > Within Europe, you may be able to buy an [interrail ticket](http://www.interrail.net/web/index2.php4?language=en). But I’m not sure of the details so you should check this out and see if it would suit you. Ah, looks like you need to be a European citizen to get this. [http://www.interrail.net/web/index2.php4?language=en](http://www.interrail.net/web/index2.php4?language=en) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-soon-be-a-student-with-free-time-in-europe-what-should-i-do/260450.md?page=1)