During winter break, just a few days before the spring semester began, I visited my good friend who lives in New Mexico. Due to our busy schedules during the fall semester, we couldn’t give much time for each other, so we decided to catch up by road tripping through New Mexico. We gave ourselves three days to reach four destinations, plus the trip back to school in Texas, all by car.

Born and raised in the suburbs, but close to the city of Los Angeles, California, I was exposed to much diversity and bustling city life. As you may know, I am a sophomore at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. And compared to L.A., Waco is much smaller, less wealthy, provides fewer resources, and can be quite culturally different. Before this road trip, I often took what I had for granted.

While we drove through the idle roads of rustic New Mexico, which often times lacked or had no cellular signal, I found time to appreciate the beautiful scenery, recognize how fortunate we live our lives, and of course, catch up with my friend.

Everyone’s perception of the term “beautiful” is different. For example, most people consider California’s physical nature to be more “beautiful” than New Mexico’s, but I find both to be equally beautiful, just in different ways. Through my eyes, I find New Mexico’s beauty from its many plateaus and how rural much of the state is. The ruralness brings about a slower pace of life, in which I find serenity and low-stress levels. As for California, I appreciate the beautiful beaches and buzzing cities. The beach provides perfect breezy weather and the cities supply a plentiful amount of resources. All in all, I consider it fascinating to see how different all the regions of the United States are.

As a busy college student, it can be difficult to see how fortunate I am to be receiving a college education at a prestigious university, have a roof over my head, and be nourished food and water all the time. But seeing how lacking New Mexico is in those areas made me realize how fortunate I am. Before this trip, I even whined about how much Waco lacked and perceived it to be worse than what it actually is. I am now more than grateful to live the life I’ve been given.

Despite what I learned on this trip, the main objective was to catch up with my friend, and it was so refreshing to see our friendship escalate into a sisterhood. I find it important to understand people in a deeper perspective because there is so much more to who people are than what you see on the surface. In addition, friends are made to provide emotional support whether they are there to be happy for you or to sympathize with you.