I'd known I wanted to study abroad since I was 12-years-old. I went on a vacation to Italy with my family and fell in love with traveling. Through the years, a lot of people told me I would change my mind as I got older. They said I wouldn't want to leave my friends for an entire semester and that everyone just says they're going to study abroad, but then never actually get around to it. Anyone who says these things can kindly remove their nose from your business and shut up.

I signed up to spend the spring semester in Paris through International Studies Abroad, or ISA, (they're awesome). But not going through a University of Arkansas program meant not knowing one person when I moved halfway across the world by myself. I was a sophomore at the time and spoke zero French. But nonetheless, I packed my bags, said goodbye to my boyfriend, friends, and family, and left everything I knew at home to go experience what would become the greatest semester of my life.

Studying abroad never goes the way you expect it to. Sometimes you end up stranded alone in Switzerland at a hostel with ten middle-aged men and sometimes you end up at a Bulgarian's birthday party at a juice bar in Milan. Sometimes your boyfriend dumps you through a text message and your friends from home don't keep in touch the way you expected. It's a whirlwind of experiences and it leads to figuring out who you are (ignore the cliche) and making lifelong friendships with amazing people you never would have otherwise met.

I learned a lot of things about myself and the world. I learned that driving on a bus with a broken A/C through the Sahara Desert really bonds you to people. I learned that your 64-year-old host mom who speaks zero English can turn out to be one of the best people you'll ever meet. I learned that bread, cheese and wine are the cure for any bad day and that no matter how many times you casually catch the Eiffel Tower out of the corner of your eye, it never stops being amazing. Moving to a place where no one knows your name gives you the kind of catharsis that's impossible to describe and exactly what any young 20-something needs. It's also the only time in your life you can casually go to another country for a quick weekend trip. So pack your bags and go somewhere that doesn't require thinking about your sorority, your GPA (sorry mom), or looking cool to that hot guy in your biology lecture. It's the most wonderful and terrifying decision I ever made.

However, when you get back be prepared for your instagram to get a lot more boring.