“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” - Anthony Bourdain

As this year is coming to an end, i thought about looking back and reflecting on one thing i did this past year that has changed me for the better. In my latest article, i discussed a topic about doing something new and asked when was the last time you did something for the first time? Well, this past summer i did just that. I have been fortunate enough to travel to different places across the world, even if it was just for a short amount of time. But this time around, i was fortunate enough to have the chance to study abroad in Costa Rica. This was the first time i ever left the country alone, and the first time i ever went to a new place for more than a few days. Anyone that has ever traveled will agree with me, there is nothing more incredible than experiencing a place for the first time.

There are truly lessons that you cannot get out of book that are waiting for you at the end of that flight. Step off the plane and truly feel a place, embrace the culture around you and dig some new people, point to a random dish on the menu that you can't pronounce and try it, come back and i promise you will see your daily life and country differently. The music, the dancing, the culture, you're going to see it all differently. Your showers will become shorter, your appreciation of air conditioning and heat will be greater. You're going to get a sense of what globalization is. You're going to realize walking place to place isn't all that bad. You will fail multiple times at learning a new language, but you will learn so much while doing so. And you will see how beautiful it is to speak and interact with people who speak a completely different language than yours. You will leave a place with a forever family that left a mark on your life.

Believe it or not, there will be a day when traveling will no longer be a reasonable option to you, so i say just go. Life gets busy, you get tied up in your career or making starting a family. But If you don't get the chance to experience the unknown, your senses dull. Whether you are deciding to study abroad, or finally crossing a country off your bucket list for the first time, you are committing to the best unknown adventure yet. You will meet people along the way that will inspire you, and you will see things from a different perspective. If you have not had the urge to travel yet, i highly encourage you to find your inner-explorer. If you let the fear of the unknown keep you from taking chances, and let money be the root of holding you back, you will never take those chances that need to be taken. But if you take them, you will never regret your choice.