Attending Nazareth has given me the incredible opportunity to study abroad twice. First, I went to Spain for the spring semester of my sophomore year and I just recently arrived home from a month-long trip to the Sacred Valley of Peru. I’ve grown immensely in the past year and a half, as a direct result of my experiences abroad. My latest trip has given me the opportunity to deeply reflect on the incredible things that I have learned about the planet and myself.

The following list is by no means exhaustive, but it simply exemplifies a few things that I have learned as a result of traveling.

1. I'm a speck.

When I was younger, I remember that I was in awe of the fact that billions of people were on our planet. It seemed like such a ginormous number, and it truthfully is. But, at the time, that’s all it was to me—a big number. After traveling to multiple cities, towns, and countries, that number came to life. It became something more than a numerical value. It now has meaning to me. It’s humbling, really. Knowing that there are billions of people on the Earth makes me more grateful to be here—it makes me grateful to simply exist. At the same time, it makes me think about the fact that I’m such a tiny part of the universe.

Do you ever look at a colony of ants working? They look like molecular organisms from a higher point of view. Whenever I get into an airplane, I get that same sensation about humanity. There are so many of us, yetfrom far away, we are tiny, individual groups that makeup a greater whole; a masterpiece.

2. I must be more than a tourist.

It's easy to go to a new place (especially a foreign country) and separate yourself from their culture and way of life. It's easy to stay with your tour group and take photos and speak in your own native language. All of that is easy. It's difficult to let go of comfort and move into an unknown atmosphere of uncertainty. Letting go of that comfort and certainty gives you the best and most authentic experience possible. It gives you the opportunity to completely immerse yourself in something unknown. That chance is an incredible rarity. Embrace the novelty of a new culture and all of the "what if" thoughts that you will be subjected to. The beauty of travel is this notion of the unknown—embrace that.

3. I must be present.

Aren't we always in a rush? We always have a list and there's always more to do. Before we finish one task, we jump ahead to the next three things. I constantly have to remind myself to stop, look, and listen. To be present. It seems like such an obvious and simple task but it's quite difficult. Telling your brain to stop running with thoughts and to simply calm down isn't easy, but it's something that we deserve to do often. I was recently sitting in a plaza in Ollantaytambo, Peru, reading a book when I heard kids playing a game on the pavement in front of me. I looked up, and then I was suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that I was in a plaza in South America, more specifically in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. I'm working on being more present everyday. You don't have to be in a new and exotic place to stop, look, and listen. We should be doing this all the time. Embrace everything that's going on, even if you don't understand it.

4. I need to open my eyes to the simplicity & complexity of other cultures.

It's easy to come from another country and try to look at things with a critical eye, as if you know better than a native, simply because you think that your way of doing things is better. Certain aspects of cultures are simple, while others are abstract and complex. After staying with a host family in a remote and rural area known as Huilloc, I learned that some groups of people have different techniques that simply work for them. Whether or not these techniques are efficient doesn't particularly matter to the people using them. We could offer our cozy lives to the natives of Peru, and I can assure you that they would turn us down.

5. I have to let my experiences change me.

It's easy to be numb—I mentioned earlier that it's easy to create a divide between us (the tourists) and them (the locals). Traveling is about changing. It's a constant process of transformation that unfolds within us. If we take it upon ourselves to see different parts of the world, we must also accept the changes that will follow within ourselves.

6. I must respect the world and the people in it.

Routines and processes are so different everywhere we go. The way that my morning runs in my house is fundamentally different from the morning routine of my 80 year-old neighbor across the street. Imagine then, how distinctly diverse routines are in different hemispheres. In Spain and Peru, many different routines were happening all the time. Being from New York, it was all new to me. Just because it's different or perceived as unusual doesn't make it invalid. Everyone has a method and reasoning for what they do. Embrace it, learn about it, and ultimately, respect it.

7. It isn't always what I expect it to be.

Going with the flow is a major component of travel that I am always working on. It's hard to leave everything to chance and the unexpected but sometimes, that's what you get. Having expectations can be somewhat dangerous...you have to understand that in coming into a new culture, we don't really know anything. We can read books and magazines about travel and a specific city or group of people but ultimately, what you see might shock and surprise you. Being open-minded and not having expectations can often be better than being as mentally prepared as you think you should be.

Little by little I am trying to remember my own advice as I travel to places near and far, both familiar and new.