When I come home from being abroad, I’m always a little bit sad.
I’m sad because I won’t be wandering around ancient churches and because Pad Thai in America is never as good as the stuff in Thailand. Yep, it’s great to see family again and eat cereal with cold milk but I like who I am when I travel better than I am when I’m at home.
Out of All The Things To Do In Your Twenties, traveling has made the most enormous impact on my life.
Don’t get me wrong; it’s not like I hate myself unless I’m wandering the streets in Italy ... because I’m happy at home and when I’m traveling. But it’s just that I’m not really these seven things until I’m off that plane, my passport’s been stamped and I’m off for a new international adventure:
I am not the kind of person who would strike up a conversation with a random person in a random coffee shop at home. But abroad? Sure! I can’t tell you how many times the girl next to me asked to practice her English with me while I was riding on the train…and how much I loved chatting with her.
Even when I know I am going to pronounce something wrong (or only know 2 words in the local language) it’s so fun to try and talk to the people around you when you travel. I’ve made friends in hostels that I still keep in touch with, all because I’m way more social when I’m away from home.
If I were to hop on a bus at home and find out the ride is going to be 2 hours longer than I had planned (and jammed packed full of people), I’d be pretty furious. That happened sooooooo many times in Asia. Oh man, those busses would stop in the middle of the road and pick up people and drop them off at their houses. I still have no idea how these people knew the bus would take them to where they needed to go. But I quickly found out through many cancelled flights, getting on the wrong buses, and crazy traffic it’s just better to be patient, especially when traveling.
I was sitting in a train station catching up on my journal — a little backstory: I do a sort of sketchbook/bucket list journal where I draw in my favorite foods I ate when in London, or add little doodles of things I want to remember — anyways, I had a drawing of my house when I was writing about coming home from being abroad. The family next to me kept pointing to the house and pointing at me, with wide eyes and I wished nothing more than to be able to speak the local language and fill them in on how much I had loved visiting their country.
Seeing how the world works in somewhere other than home means appreciating things you didn't think to appreciate before you left — I didn't think twice about a hot shower until I lived somewhere where that was a luxury. Or had the chance to cook meals for the week and eat the same bowl of soup seven days straight (and felt guilty about the times I opened a fridge full of food, only to say “there’s nothing to eat”. )
Traveling makes you grateful — it makes me want to appreciate more and give back to help others, it makes me want to soak up every minute of every day whether I'm home or abroad. Traveling just makes you see life in ways you can't get as clearly if you were to read a book or see a picture.
Sometimes I don’t recognize myself when I travel. I rent motorbikes and scoot through island towns, hop off of bridges, borrow bicyles and bike through roads still under construction, jump into tuk tuks and whiz through crowded streets, and climb atop rooftops to get the best sunset view.
When you know you only have so many days in a certain place, it drives you to make the most of it. Life is not about sitting at home. I hate that I forget that when I’m not traveling. There's something about being in a country for a limited amount of time that makes me want to see every single museum, wake up early to make that hike before sunrise, and plunge into deep pools after trekking up to thundering waterfalls. I don't take that same level of adventure when I'm planning out a Saturday when I'm at home.
I dare you to stand in front of a world wonder and not smile. You are actually exploring this cutie backpacker city in Thailand or eating gelato in front of the actual Roman Coliseum! This isn’t a picture — it’s the actually thing. You are there, in real life. That gives you a lot to smile about. Somehow, I feel happier when I’m exploring a quiet European town or a Thai temple than walking the aisles of Target.
Weird, right?
I want to get the most out of everything when I’m abroad. I want to try all the foods, I want to see all the things, and I want to come home just exhausted because I squeezed every possible moment out of my trip. Unlike me at home, there really isn’t room for Netflix when you travel.
From trying new foods to experiencing new things, I love that I’m more ambitious when I’m in a foreign country. I feel like I'm more able to challenge myself, complete goals I want to accomplished, and get more out of living when I'm abroad. It's like experiencing life to its absolute fullest — all of the sights, feelings, and emotions, all at once, all of the time. It's addicting.
This is going to sound cheesy but here I go: Life is ah-mazing when you think about it. You can hop on a plane and in a few hours be in a completely different country, seeing things that are completely different than your life at home. That’s incredible!
Each person you meet while exploring has such a complex life- they have family, have had heartbreaks, and may even have the same little quirks like you — like how much you hate black licorice. That’s incredible!! I feel more alive, more vibrant and more aware of how amazing this little planet of ours really is when I travel.
I guess that's why I've taken breaks from school to travel (which I don't regret!) and did a gap year after graduation...which actually turned into two years and might be pushing a third; I think I'm my best self when I travel.
Want to see for yourself how you change while abroad?
International Language Programs has opportunities where you can volunteer for an entire semester in different countries around the world. Plus, we know you want to keep costs low which is why our program fee pays for big ticket items like your flight, housing and your meals.