As a child, I looked forward every year to the first day back to school from summer vacation. Many of my friends would bring back mementos for me from the places to which they’d travelled over the break: engraved chopsticks from Taiwan, spicy candies from Mexico. I dreamed of one day visiting other countries as my childhood friends had done.
My dream came true four months ago, when I boarded a plane headed for Valencia, Spain. I picked up my life and everything I’ve ever known and moved across the ocean to an unfamiliar country full of unfamiliar faces. As my plane landed, I stepped into a city that would come to mean so much to me in a short amount of time. Excited yet sleep-deprived, I had no idea what the next few months would hold.
Fast forward to today: I have learned more things and traveled more places than my mind could have ever dreamed. I have paraglided over the Alps of Switzerland, ridden camels through the sands of Morocco, picnicked under the Eiffel Tower in France, swum in the thermal baths of Hungary, eaten fresh pasta in the bistros of Italy, walked across retro bridges in Portugal, and played with monkeys in the United Kingdom.
