“I am a new person!” After studying abroad, that's one of the first sentences that students say after returning home. Speaking from personal experience, there is a piece of yourself that will always be left behind in those places you visited. You gain a new outlook on life after returning to the U.S. from your trip.

When you book your plane ticket and pack your bags, you can only focus on your excitement, on the contagious adrenaline that courses through your body. The realization that you are about to see all the Google images that you have been obsessing over, that you’re about to hear the accents for the first time and not just through all the movies that you have watched is overwhelming in every aspect for your mind and body. What you won’t understand until you are on your way home is how much your time abroad changed your entire life, and how there was no way that you could have prepared yourself for it.

1. Independence. Boarding your plane alone is one of the most terrifying moments. From my experience studying abroad in Ireland for a semester, I can attest to that. That moment is when the sudden wave of reality crashes over you. Once you have landed you are all on your own: you maneuver your way through a foreign country, enjoy unbelievable food, find the place where you will be living, and begin settling in. You learn to depend on yourself completely but don’t hesitate to ask the people surrounding you for help and advice; it doesn’t make you any less of an independent person.
   
2. Self-confidence. One of the first things you learn abroad is that self-doubt is a wasted emotion. You learn to trust your instincts. You learn to trust yourself. You learn that you are the only person that can assure your safety and you have to be confident when you are making a decision. For example, if you plan separate trips to other foreign countries while abroad, confidence in yourself is mandatory when you are finding a hostel to sleep in for the night. You will return home after studying abroad with unwavering self-confidence that shines through with each and every action that you do. This is one of the most valuable lifelong lessons that will only be strengthened and sharpened throughout your life.
   
3. Welcoming new people into your life. The people that you meet abroad are irreplaceable. Not only did they become your first friends in a foreign country, but they learned the same lessons right alongside you. You will start to feel that craving for people who share the same mindset as you being satisfied. Everyone you meet when you are abroad is addicted to wanting to be immersed in that foreign culture: wanting to understand the traditions, customs, and everyday way of life. They are wanting to take the time to appreciate the smaller moments, details, and the intense beauty that is everywhere. They are wanting to just live in that very moment and never wishing the time away. The friendships that are created while studying abroad are unbreakable bonds because those memories that are shared will never be forgotten.
   
4. Open mindedness. Do not shut out possibilities, opportunities, or opinions just because they are different from you own. When you close your mind, you are removing the opportunity for growth. Broaden your perspective. Allow yourself to grow in ways that you didn’t formally think was possible. Let it challenge you, test you as a person, and the transformation in yourself will be astonishing when you look back at your study abroad experience. It is mandatory to have this mindset when you are studying abroad because you are experiencing something new every day. You are the one that is adapting to a diverse culture. You want to be able to experience everything that your new home has to offer, and just because a tradition or custom is “weird” or “strange,” you don’t want to miss out on that opportunity to really commit yourself just because it is outside of your comfort zone. When you obtain an open mind, it is something that you can carry for the rest of your life.

Studying abroad can be nerve-wracking when you think of all the memories that you could be missing out on if you went back home, but studying abroad is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The memories you make you will hold onto forever, compared to the occasional good time you have on a Friday night. Take that step. The worst thing that could happen is that it will change your life.