I recently spent eight days in Mexico. Not the tourist areas, like Cancun or Cozumel, but in a city where we clearly stood out because of our skin tone, and English was rarely spoken or understood. I was grateful for this because my family and I got to experience what life was really like there, and I learned so much more than I thought I could.

1. Cultural appreciation

It can be so easy to go along with stereotypes and automatically assume that everyone who's a part of a particular culture acts the same, but once you walk in their shoes and see their day to day life, you develop a knowledge of the background of what makes someone who they are. I visited art museums, tried various foods that I couldn't even pronounce and learned to do dances that I've never even heard of. All of this showed me the history and culture of the country, and taught me more than I could have ever learned from just sitting in a classroom and reading a textbook.

2. Living in the moment

Since I don't have an international phone plan, I couldn't use my phone to text or call anyone, and could only briefly check social media whenever I found wifi. While that scared me at first, I quickly adjusted to it because I was continuously on the move and exploring new places. By not constantly looking down at my phone, I was able to fully absorb all that was going on around me, and appreciate new sights that I may never be able to see again.

3. We're all very similar

Even though things may seem so different from the outside, there are still things there that occur here as well. Every day, the children go to school and the parents go to work. Boyfriends and girlfriends hold each other's hands to show affection. Music plays and people dance along. People say hello and goodbye when passing on the streets. When it comes down to it, we are all people who eat, cry, laugh and sleep - despite our differences of skin color or the language we speak.

4. It's a small world after all

Staying in only one area essentially puts you in a bubble of only being surrounded by people who talk like you, eat what you eat and believe what you believe. By exposing myself to another place, I learned that the world is so much bigger than just the area that I'm used to, and also developed a craving to want to learn more about other places around the world.

5. Appreciation of what you have

While I had a great time and saw a lot of cool things, nothing quite compares to the feeling of stepping off the plane and seeing familiarity of what I left behind. I now appreciate hamburgers, sweet tea and even country music more than I did before, because those are all things that I've grown up with and are a part of what makes me who I am.

Becoming a part of another culture is truly life changing - to be able to eat what they eat, listen to what they listen to and see what they see allows you experience a new part of life that you won't be able to have if you stay put where you're comfortable. By immersing in different cultures, you can then become more open minded and diverse, allowing you to have a better understanding of why people are the way they are.