This month, I traveled with LaGrange College during my January term. We traveled to Italy, and in nine days, I visited Florence, Rome, Siena, Naples, Pompeii, Lucca, and Orvieto. And I loved it. I love Italy, I love to travel, I love learning about new cultures.

I hope everyone, whether it's for missions or for fun, gets the chance to travel out of the country at least once. There's no other way to completely experience another culture.

Traveling to a place like Italy is incredible because there is art and history everywhere. You can visit historical structures, like the Colosseum, or you can see artworks like Michelangelo's David or Botticelli's Birth of Venus. Or just walking down the street in Lucca, we saw an older fresco of Jesus.

And, of course, the food is amazing. Every single time I went out, I tried to have something different: lasagna, pizza, spaghetti, gnocchi. And I had to have dessert after every meal. Gelato is to die for, and no flavor is bad.

So you have to travel to experience new things: new food, new places, new ideas. But when you travel, you're inspired and you realize the things that really matter to you. Away from America and away from my worries, I realized a few things about myself. All I hope to do with my life is travel and write, and this trip inspired me to pursue a life and a career where I can do exactly that.

Everyone should travel out of the country at least once (and no, the North doesn't count as a different country).