England, Sweden, Finland, France, Italy, and Slovakia name just a few of the places some of my friends call home. And to think I'm in small, seemingly insignificant Troy Alabama experiencing these cultures and people. For those of you that don't know, Troy University is universally well known and regarded. People across the sea know about and want to be a part of our school and what we have going on here.

For me personally, being a military brat, it's uncommon to meet someone who is from somewhere that I haven't already lived/been. It's also uncommon for me to be able to relate to people regarding things such as the Autobahn, European McDonald french fries vs. American McDonald french fries, and Christmas markets. However, after only one year at Troy University, I can tell you I've never been to Finland, Slovakia, Ghana, Palestine, or Nigeria, yet I've met and gotten to know people from all of these places.

Being on the soccer team, too, we've always had some internationals on our team. Last year all of our British teammates left, but we gained an Australian and two Swedish girls this year. Our entire team has attempted to learn basic words in Swedish like left and right (as well as the occasional cuss word). Even talking to them daily and just comparing little things like how we eat our spaghetti vs. them is so interesting (the Swedish girls like to mix their salad in with their spaghetti...we've tried to convince them that's disgusting, but we failed). We also like to mimic the way our Aussie teammate says certain things like "Oi!", but then she just laughs and says we sound weird. Being around a different culture every single day completely causes you to step out of your little conservative, traditional, American bubble and explore your personal views on the world.

I literally cannot walk across campus without hearing another language or accent and have the immediate desire to meet them and learn about them and their culture. It has become a slight addiction honestly. You find yourself constantly wanting to ask them questions and compare things in America to things in their hometowns across the ocean. You're forced to really listen to them to understand what they're saying and sometimes when there's a language barrier you play the word guessing game until you come upon the word they were trying to say, or you just laugh at the way you say things differently. Learning a new thing daily about another country is eye opening and food for the mind and soul honestly.

So for those of you that think Troy University is a small, southern school in a random town in the middle of nowhere, you might not be wrong, but you're forgetting the bigger picture; the world is present here. In your classrooms, on your sports teams especially, and every time you walk across the quad. HERE. At Troy University, the world is alive. If that's not something to be proud of and a desire to be around, then I don't know what is. Cause if you ask me what I'll be doing in three years, I'll let you know I'll be visiting college friends in England, Australia, and Sweden and to call me when your school gives you an opportunity like that.