I was fortunate enough to be able to travel a lot throughout the springtime during my time abroad. As most travelers would say, that time spent traveling taught me countless lessons that would have taken years to learn otherwise. This lesson taught me something about myself and about improving my experiences wherever I go and this story captures that concept perfectly. Although the lesson might be cliche, it's vital; asking questions wherever you go will undoubtedly improve your experience.

This story starts in Paris. I had decided to travel there alone for a few days right at the very end of my semester. My exams ended earlier than most so I decided to take full advantage of my extra time. I learned a lot from traveling alone, but two things that stand out in this story are that I learned that I like talking to people a lot more than I thought I did and that asking questions can absolutely change your experience - whether that experience is exploring a new city or finding what you need in a store. With that, when I arrived in Paris I went to check in to my hostel. After finding out some of the details of my stay, the end of the conversation went like this:

"Okay, you're all set! Enjoy your stay!"

"Thank you very much! I actually have a couple questions about what to do while I'm here. I'm only here for a few days but I want to make sure I can see a lot of the museums around the city."

"Well if you're interested in museums, today is the one day a year that just about every museum in Paris is open until midnight with free admission."

I couldn't believe my luck. I love museums and Paris is one of the best places in the world for museums. After an afternoon of traveling I was planning on just having a walk around the neighborhood and then going to sleep, but this sounded much more interesting.

I thanked the man for his advice and went upstairs to put away my luggage. I met some other people in the room that I was staying in who offered me to join them for a drink. I declined in favor of this unique museum exploring experience that I began to realize I didn't know much about. As with any trip I made, I made a list of a lot of different activities I was interested in. As the trip progressed, I narrowed down the things that I still wanted to do based on time constraints, the interest of my fellow travelers, and local advice. Naturally, a city as big as Paris led to a huge list of rich activities. So when I found out that many museums were open, I began to wonder which museums that really meant, and whether there were any exceptions to that rule. So I ventured to the check-in desk again.

This time everyone working was occupied. I waited for a couple of minutes while they ran around with phones to their ears or carrying pertinent items for guests who had visited the counter. As I waited in line, a woman beside me asked what I was waiting for. I could have simply said, "I just have a question for one of the workers." But instead, I said, "I came here earlier and was told about Museum Night that's going on tonight and I wanted to find out which specific museums were open."

Her response seemed too good to be true: "Oh I'm on my way to that right now! I'm leading a group of university students to the Army Museum tonight. Do you want to come with us?"

Without a doubt in my mind, I said I would love to go. It turns out the group of students was a group of students from across Europe that were majoring in business. This specific gathering was made up of a group of girls who grew up from France to Azerbaijan and everywhere in between as they took part in their main annual gathering as a part of the European International Business Academy. I got to spend the night speaking to these very friendly students that I had just met as I explored one of the museums on my list of things to do in Paris.

f I hadn't asked any questions in the first place, I would be wandering around the streets of Montmartre, admittedly, not a bad alternative, and then going to bed. I wouldn't have ever met the people I met that night and nor would I have had any clue about the event that only occurs once a year and I so, fortunately, happened to arrive that night. This is just one of the countless examples of how asking more questions has changed my perspective. It has made my life easier and more enjoyable without negative consequences. Ask more questions. It'll do the same thing for you.