In the spring semester of my sophomore year of college I studied abroad in London, England. I had the stereotypical teary-eyed goodbye with my mom and sister at the St. Louis airport and we all walked away from each other before the approaching cry fest consumed us three. They shipped me off and told me, “Have fun, be safe, and just have the time of your life.” So that’s exactly what I did… and what I encountered and learned during my European adventure still sticks with me today.

1. Failing at using public transportation is a blessing in disguise.

One weekend a group of friends and I decided to go visit Painshill Park, located about an hour and a half outside of London, which has a very popular grotto. We arrived in the small town where the park is located but had to take a bus to get to the park. We waited at the bus stop for our particular bus that came only every hour. After an hour passed we realized that we had been looking for the wrong bus, and in that time, had missed the bus we actually needed to take. Once again, we found ourselves stupidly waiting another full hour to catch a bus. We were getting impatient and frustrated with ourselves so we decided to walk around the small town and immediately came across a cereal bar (something the United States has still not caught onto). I tried cereal from South Africa with Honeycomb milk and I found myself enjoying every spoonful of the best bowl of cereal in my life. We went back to the bus station and all came to the conclusion that we were actually happy we missed the bus.

Helpful Hint: If you don’t flag a bus down (even at a bus stop) it will just speed by and you might have to wait another forty-five minutes, in the freezing cold, at two in the morning, until another bus comes. It is very likely that this exact situation happened on our first weekend in London.

2. This is your study abroad experience, so whenever you want to do something you just have to do it, even if that means doing it by yourself!

When planning my three-day trip to Munich, Germany, I knew I wanted to go see the Neuschwanstein Castle. The group of friends I was going with didn’t really have an interest in going to the castle since it was a full day tour, a couple hours outside of Munich. I made a decision; I would spend time with my friends seeing the main sights inside Munich and then do my own sightseeing tour at the castle I desperately wanted to see. After getting back from my castle tour and showing my friends the beautiful castles built in the middle of snow capped mountains, I think they wish they would have gone too. And looking back, I’m so glad I went and my friends were happy I went as well. I believe with study abroad friends there’s a mutual understanding that we are all here for the experience of a lifetime so you must take advantage of every opportunity you have to do the things you want. You can’t be afraid of doing things alone, because you might miss out on a great adventure!

3. It’s a crazy small world.

After completing our walking tour in Prague, Czech Republic, we asked someone on the tour to take our picture. We started talking to her and learned that she was also studying abroad.

She said she was from Missouri, like us!

Relatively small world!

She said she goes to school in St. Louis, like us!

Whoa that’s crazy, this is a really small world!

She said she goes to school at Webster University.

Wait! What! Did we have a class together?

It turns out she was studying abroad at Webster’s Vienna campus. Call it just a coincidence or one in a million, but either way it’s a crazy small world.

4. Strangers will restore your faith in humanity on a regular basis.

European airlines are really strict about printing off your boarding pass before getting to the airport, and if you don’t, you usually you have to pay a large fee to get it printed there. The airline we used only allow for you to print the boarding pass 48 hours before your flight. For our trip to Greece we spent two days in Athens and four days in Santorini. Our last night in Athens we went to print our boarding passes at our hostel but their printer was broken. We then began an hour-long mad rush around the streets of Athens trying to find a place to print our boarding passes before businesses closed for the evening. After attempting to decipher Greek and multiple stops in various stores asking for a print shop, we entered a travel agency sweating and exhausted. We asked an employee if she knew of anywhere we could print boarding passes. Just as I was about to plead by offering money, she walked over to her boss’s desk and turned on his computer. We explained to her our crazy adventure and how this was our last stop on our study abroad trip. She let me sit at the desk, then offered us water, and I joyfully printed out our three boarding passes. As I went to print the final boarding pass, her boss walked into the office with some clients and found us three huddled around his desk. My first thought was I hope we don’t get her in trouble. He welcomed us, she explained to him the situation, and his first response to her was, “Did you offer them water?” They were so welcoming and kind to us three students despite the fact that we weren’t paying customers. As we went to leave, we graciously thanked them and the two had a short conversation in Greek. She came up to me and said, “He has something for you.” He placed a single Greek blue bead into our hands and sent us on our way. We left that office feeling even more love for the people of Greece and the kindness they showed us time and time again.

5. Getting lost is 100 percent OK…and it will happen quite often.

While strolling the streets of Rome using both fold up maps and the Google maps app, we were in search of a small piazza that our friend had been to before. We went up alleyways and side streets trying to find it with very little luck. On our way there, we came across various booths and shops where we ventured inside, toured a beautiful church, and found an open square with street performers and artists. We had found the piazza! We got dinner at a restaurant down the street. We sat outside eating pasta and drinking red wine as the sun set. Then a band came with an accordion player as they sang a beautiful song in Italian. I felt like I was living the famous “Lady and the Tramp” spaghetti scene. It was in that alleyway that I realized I was lost in the moment of being abroad. Lost in the pure bliss of the study abroad experience, without a care in the world, and living a typical Italian moment that you only see in movies. I realized that being physically lost and lost in the experience of enjoying the trip’s wonderful little moments are both things that are perfectly OK. Feeling the sense of being lost while you’re abroad is 100 percent OK and can lead to some of the best study abroad moments.

6. Taking risks and seeing things you’ve only ever dreamed of will result in so many special moments of, “Wow, I’ve never felt more alive!”

I learned how to surf while on a hiking trip in Wales.

I planned a trip to Greece on a whim and climbed a volcano.

I saw 28 shows in London.

I went to Harry Potter Studios.

I went to the Anne Frank House.

I toured two concentration camps.

I went to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

I went to Stonehenge.

I toured The Globe Theatre.

I went to Giant’s Causeway in Ireland.

I went to Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain.

I climbed to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

I toured the Roman Forum, Coliseum, and Vatican.

7. You can meet extraordinary people while studying abroad.

While all those adventures are exciting and visiting all the wonderful countries is amazing… it’s really the PEOPLE who make your study abroad experience what it is. They are the ones that make all the trips and adventures so enjoyable. You get to come back home and treasure all the fond memories for many years down the road. The reunions I have with study abroad friends lead to some of the best adventures and conversations. The friendships I made with people abroad are one-of-a-kind. If there’s one thing I know from studying abroad it’s that the friendships you make continue past your time abroad and can truly last a lifetime.