Coming from a small town in southern Illinois, I never imagined where I would be in five, 10, 20 years because I always just assumed I would never leave. I mean I would leave to go to college, but come back and live the rest of my life commuting to work and having a family. This image of my future life vanished once I came to college.

Don’t get me wrong, I will forever love my little town of 5,700 (I like to round to 6,000), but once I stepped a foot outside my city limits, I realized that it wasn’t that difficult to do. I still talked to my mom and grandma every single day, like normal, and I was surviving two hours away from them.

In the past three years away from my small town, I have grown so much in a variety of areas. Coming to college was a baby step outside of my comfort zone, but if you know me, you know I like a challenge, and that is why I decided to save my money and apply for various scholarships to study abroad.

Before I applied for this opportunity I had barely been out of Illinois, except for a couple of times. Once when my family took a family vacation to Florida the summer going into high school and another time when I went with my boyfriend and sorority sisters to Alabama for Alternative Spring Break to volunteer at the Big Oak Girls Ranch.

So, this was a huge step I was about to take. I applied for a faculty led study abroad program through the History department and the German department. I took German both semesters before leaving to prepare me for my experience abroad and I still couldn’t connect with reality: I was leaving the country.

I went with professors I had no connection with and five other students who I had never met before. I was taking six credits outside my major and I was prepared for the worst. I was so excited until a couple of days before I was about to leave, then I got so nervous I started questioning everything. I started thinking that three weeks was way too long. I started to doubt my decision about this whole thing, until my grandma and mom talked to me about how big of a deal this was.

I was leaving the country to go to Germany. The country where my ancestors came from in 1857. Being a family that is really into our family tree, we already had the research and the name of the village my family was originally from. I looked at my mom and grandma and realized that I should take this opportunity that most people do not get in their life time.

So I rode the train to Chicago, boarded a flight that would take my over the ocean and to Europe, and wished to God that the plane would not go down (a woman next to me scared me half to death telling me stories so I didn’t sleep the entire eight hour flight).

So, what happened next?

It was amazing. It was just enough to take me outside of my comfort zone, but not too much where I went into culture shock. Germany is so modernized, especially in Berlin, that it felt like home (except more hills and mountains).

I went to historical landmarks from World War II and was overwhelmed with a variety of emotions when we visited two different concentration camps. I made some of the best friendships with the people I never would have met if it wasn’t for this experience and the two professors that led the trip I now see as mentors in my life.

Now, I am ready for my next adventure. I am not afraid to go somewhere completely different than I am use to. Studying abroad made me believe that it is possible to go to graduate school outside of Illinois. I have been looking at universities on different sides of the country and I cannot wait to see what my future has in store for me!

My only advice is to step outside your comfort zone. Try new things, even if you are a picky eater like me. Take more than enough pictures, because honestly there is never too many. Most importantly, it doesn’t matter where you go. Just go.