Traveling to another country, where the primary language isn't English, is an exciting, but scary step in your life. I know it was for me.

Although I am now in my fifth year of Spanish, I can barely hold a conversation. I understand some of the things that are said to me, but I find myself staring blankly at the person speaking to me rather than actually reciprocating most often. I knew traveling to Guatemala, with such minimal Spanish knowledge, would be a challenge.

For the first few days, I was apprehensive. The children were always around watching us work, but I steered clear of many potential conversations. However, the more hours we spent at the kitchen table, where we were told not to speak English, the more comfortable I felt speaking their language

Slowly, but surely, I began to approach the kids. Still keeping a translator in sight, in case I needed them, I would ask the neighborhood kids about school and their families. When I ran out of things to say we would sit there in silence and continue to do whatever activity we had brought out for the day. Even so, I would be worried that the silence was rude, that I needed to fill it up with more conversation.

We were sitting in reflection on one of our last nights in Guatemala and one of the girls I had traveled with stated that sometimes she felt she didn't even need to speak Spanish. She said that all she needed to do to make the children feel comfortable with her was a smile. So, I thought back to our first few days with them.

I exchanged so many smiles with the kids that I didn't realize just how much it probably meant to them. Here we are, these interesting college students from the United States. I remember when I was a kid that meeting someone who wasn't exactly like you were one of the coolest things. Then, we showed up in Guatemala, struggling to speak Spanish from a far away country. I can't even imagine what these kids thought of us when we showed up on their turf.

In all the languages of the world, there is one thing you can't go wrong with. A smile is a smile. No matter where you travel, who you meet, what language you're speaking, everyone can understand that you're happy to be there with them through that simple gesture. Every time I looked over at those kids and smiled at them, a smile crept onto their face within the next few seconds.

I didn't need to say anything to them to let them know I was happy to be there.