Why you need to Study Abroad 

    Sometimes you just need to take a second to live in someone else's shoes. When you study abroad, it's almost like living in someone else’s WORLD. You see things you never thought you would and you have so many once in a lifetime opportunities. Sometimes it is hard to take the first step and fill out an application and it is even harder to take the first step onto the plane that is taking you away, but so quickly you will see how your whole world is about to change.

          People fear the unknown. Foreign exchange is meant to test all your limits and believe me it does. At some points it will push you beyond your breaking point, but what people do not tell you is once you break, there is no longer a wall holding you back.

         There will always be hard tasks thrown at you to overcome, but as long as you keep your eyes wide open you will be fine. If you blink your whole exchange will have flown by. You need to take all the opportunities you can.

          In the two months I have been in Belgium, my life and outlook on life has changed. Every country has something you will not find anywhere else in the world. It could be a building, monument, language, mountain, landscape, food, drink, behavior, etcetera! I have fallen in love with the most random things you could think of. My home back in the United States doesn't have any form of public transportation besides the school buses and a few stray taxis. In Belgium, I can get from one side of the country to the other without a car or anyone else. I have embraced what it's like to be packed into a tram cart with fifty other students trying to get home from school and then walking another twenty to make it to my house. I love having a half day every Wednesday because it gives me more time than just the weekend to explore. It has only been two months and already I feel like I have discovered a lifetime's worth of life lessons and beautiful places.

          Exchange is hard, but you can't appreciate how amazing the good things are without the bad.