New Uniforms for Team USA (A little Disappointing)

Life is about Exploring!

Life is about Exploring!-Love this Quote!

Places to see…Austria

Austria!

This place seriously looks amazing, this is one of my top places to visit before I die. I love the outdoors and nature and this place looks like during the right season it would be a refreshing get-away. Also looks like there would be no internet signal to distract me.

Top 10 Reasons to Study Abroad (Part 1)

I saw this post today from “A student Guide to Study Abroad” and I wanted to put my two cents into the conversation. I’m going to do a blog post on each top 10 reasons throughout the week and how the reason relates to my study abroad experiences. I was actually lucky enough to go to China and Australia.

Learn about yourself and become more self-aware

During my two semesters abroad I had very different experiences on both. My first semester abroad to China it was the biggest culture shock of my life. Not because China was so very different from America but because China was so very different from my perception. I expected to get into China and see a country far behind the USA. But in actuality Shanghai was a thriving metropolis. I came to the realization that I judged before I had seen.

Something I regret the most about China was that I was in a relationship while on a study abroad. I feel like I robbed myself of a few experiences of finding out about the country and myself because In the back of my mind I was always thinking about time zones and when I could Skype my boyfriend next. Although my body was in China a lot of the time my mind was in America, which wasted a lot of precious time.

I would advise to try not be in a relationship while studying abroad. It sucks for both parties because you are not able to take advantage of all the amazing things around you, and your significant other could get resentful as they are doing the same day-to-day experiences while you are having the experiences of a lifetime.

In Australia it was a much more self-searching experience. My boyfriend and I actually broke up a few months after I came back from China. It was horrible break up and the 4 months away really gave me the time to meet new people and understand who I was without the relationship. Because no one tells you that once you break up with someone you also break up with a lot of people who were your friends due to being your boyfriend’s friend. Australia was a life-changing experience because I was able to really take advantage of all the opportunities around me. I was not thinking of people back home as much, because I knew my true friends would still be there when I got back. And the friends I made in Australia are my friends for a lifetime because I had more time to cultivate those relationships.

Study Abroad is one the greatest opportunities to discover the REAL you. You can be whomever you wish! It’s the most liberating feeling in the world to really know who you are. Study abroad helped me to become the happiest person I could imagine.