When talking to friends and family from home, I am often asked which city I am headed to next — Paris, Madrid, Rome, etc. While I plan to visit all of these bustling cities (and more), I am also prioritizing visits to rural areas. To put it simply, I yearn for the countryside!
This semester I am based in London, and have visited Budapest and Dublin. These crowded cities are great places to explore. You can spend days in each without running out of things to do. There are a million restaurants to visit, museums to explore, markets to peruse and streets to wander down. While these amazing cities have much to do, they sometimes lack individuality.
Rural areas and small towns, although quiet, have a certain charm that big cities do not. Even the people are nicer. When asking for directions in London, I have gotten ignored more times than I can count. (Although I don’t blame the offenders, I would be a hypocrite to pretend I haven’t done the same to tourists in NYC.) When I have asked for help in smaller towns, people have been more than willing to come to my aid.
In addition to the change of pleasantness, I have found that small towns tend to have more beautiful architecture and vibrant streets. Plus, there is something very inviting about walking into a pub where everyone is familiar with one another. It is heartwarming to see bartenders chatting with the customers as though they have known each other all their lives.
Two weeks ago, my friends and I decided to take a break from big-city living, and took a day trip to the Seven Sisters Cliffs. The cliffs are located in a rural area overlooking the English Channel coast. The view from the top is beautiful, but the journey to the cliffs is not for the faint of heart. To get to the county of East Sussex, where the cliffs are located, my friends and I left London early Saturday morning. First, we boarded a train headed to the small, coastal city of Brighton. Within Brighton, we explored Eastbourne. Eastbourne is a little town, filled with small, local shops and neat restaurants. Although Eastbourne is not quite a seasonal town, it is much busier in the warmer months. One of the main attractions of the town is the beach and pier, which is lined with restaurants, shops and amusement park rides. Although the weekend’s cold temperatures left us quiet streets, the town had a lot of character and my friends and I promised to return when the weather warms.
After exploring Brighton, we hopped on a local bus that was headed to South Downs National Park. The bus route gave us a great view of the English coastline as we traveled to even more of an isolated town.
After a three-hour journey sponsored by multiple forms of public transportation, we finally arrived at the cliffs and began our ascent to the peak. The cliffs were amazing. The hike to the top was long, taking over two hours. Along the way, we ran into flocks of sheep (which we did not approach) and ponies (which we did approach). Unfortunately, we should not have approached the ponies, because one of them bit me. (Although my spunky friend and former Assistant Culture Editor Lauren Lombardi, FCRH ’25, claims the bite was just a nibble!)
When we reached the peak, we stopped and ate lunch. It was a makeshift picnic, with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that we had made that morning. The quiet lunch, sitting on the grass, while we watched sheep wander was rejuvenating, especially after spending a month in the bustling streets of London.
Although our trip through the English countryside was just a day long, I am certain that my friends and I will prioritize trips to rural areas in the future, and you should too! Don’t forget about the countryside during your travels.
Before I go, let me offer a few words of wisdom before you embark on any outdoor adventures through the countryside. Don’t assume you are too cool to bundle up (I did, and had to buy an extra sweatshirt) and do watch where you are walking (I didn’t, and twisted my ankle).
