At the beginning of my sophomore year, I registered with GCU’s Honors College to take a trip to Central Europe for two weeks. I was more than ecstatic when I submitted my deposit and forms for the trip.
It has always been one of my biggest dreams to travel the world, and it was finally happening!
I have been traveling with my family since I was six months old. Traveling is something which has brought my family closer together, and every year we all await the inevitable discussion of what adventures we will have that year. Everyone in my family shares the same dream to experience as much as we can find in the world in our lifetimes.
The only time I have ever traveled without my family was my high school senior trip to Washington DC. However, I still sort of counted this trip as traveling with family, as I was traveling with my closest and best friends and with people who I had known since I was twelve years old. I felt extremely comfortable traveling in new places with these people.
However, I was now traveling with people who I did not know at all.
While I knew these people attended GCU, I knew nothing about them. I was quite nervous about this because these were the people I was going to be in unfamiliar countries with. I was also nervous about being in these unfamiliar countries. Essentially, I was going to be exploring brand new places by myself.
While I was beyond excited to explore new corners of the world, fear of the unknown was also creeping into my mind. Yet, I was determined to enjoy this trip and have as many adventures as I could.
So, on Wednesday, May 2, I got on a plane to Amsterdam.
What followed was the greatest two weeks of my life. I met so many new and wonderful friends, had countless amazing experiences, and tried some incredibly delicious food. I realized pretty quickly that this trip was going to be what I made of it. I was the one who would ultimately decide whether or not this trip was a good experience.
So, I shook off all my worries about not knowing anybody or anything about the countries I was in and decided to simply find joy in what I was doing. After all, I was getting to live out one of my biggest dreams ever! I needed to take advantage of every single opportunity I got because who knew when an opportunity like this would come around again?
I learned God’s blessings were much bigger than any anxieties I had about my travels. I had been blessed with the opportunity to see the world, and I should face it with gratitude! Would it put me in unusual circumstances? It absolutely would, but these adventures were the ones I knew I would treasure in my heart forever. I did some things which made me nervous or anxious, like meeting new people or exploring new places, and they were the best experiences I’ve ever had in my life.
I made a decision to be courageous in my adventures, and it paid off tremendously. I had the time of my life and faced my new adventures with excitement and anticipation of what I would discover. I learned that the world is so wonderful and amazing and that God wants me to experience as much of it as I could.
By doing this, I discovered so many new and wonderful things and that I was brave enough to find these adventures. All it took was some courage to try new things and really see God’s blessings in my life.