Deciding to study prunty2abroad was not a challenging decision for me. Growing up, I knew I was interested, and it was highly encouraged in my family. My mom lived and studied in Europe during her college years and after graduation, she moved to Japan for a year to teach English. To this day, she is still enthusiastic about her experiences and I believe that this is what triggered my own desire to study abroad, although it was ultimately my decision.

I was fortunate enough to travel to other countries such as Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. Canada was my first time outside of the United States and although I enjoyed it, it almost felt like I had not left America, because we were just over the border. A few summers later, my parents said we were going on a cruise which is when we went to Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. After seeing part of Mexico, I quickly realized that the world is a very large and unique place and it’s important to acknowledge that it is so much bigger than who we are as individuals. I was happy to be see these places even if I didn’t see everything and grateful for the lessons that I learned and memories that I made. Fast forwarding two years later, I got to see Costa Rica where I embraced a culture different from my own as my family and I lived like locals. We ate the same foods and stayed in a home similar to that of the residents. Living like this was an eye opening experience by taking on daily life in another part of the world, and makes you very appreciative of what you have, which is why it’s important to see new places.

Although my mother is an advocate of traveling, it was my own experiences in the countries I have been to that made me want to go abroad. These vacations gave me a thirst for new sights, adventures, memories, and lessons, which can be satisfied by studying abroad, in my opinion. Overall, I chose to study abroad to enrich my college experience and my perspective on life in general.