Even though it's extremely comforting to have a sense of home and security in one location, there are so many other remarkable destinations to encounter. I've only traveled around the world two times in my life, but I can honestly say that those times truly changed me. Those two times changed my perspective on the world so much and have made me value traveling more than I ever imagined.

When I was sixteen, I took my first trip to Europe. With my high school, I traveled around Spain for eight days, specifically within Barcelona and Madrid. Despite how nervous I was to go to a different country without my parents, I wouldn't take it back for anything. I felt like I got to absorb a whole new culture and even though the foods weren't always to my liking, the company and sights that I saw were better than I ever imagined, one of my favorites being Park Güell in Barcelona, it was absolutely breathtaking.

I remember my friends and I were all so sad to leave, but when the spots for the trip to Italy in 2016 opened up, I begged my parents to go and was one of the first students on the list. And just like that, most of my junior and part of my senior year consisted of counting down the days until that trip. When the day we boarded our flight finally came, I was beyond excited and when we finally got there, my expectations for Italy were exceed. Nine days of traveling from Rome, to Florence, to Venice was something I never thought I'd be able to do at age 18, plus riding a gondola was a 10/10 experience.

Of course the culture and history was important to me, but the things that I learned through traveling is what truly stuck with me. One thing I learned is that the people you travel with are the ones who make the trip. Even though my friends and I may have gotten tired of each other after being together for eight days straight, I know for a fact we learned more about each other.

We learned how to be comfortable with each other throughout every aspect, including the occasionally silences that we had in the hotel room. We learned how to talk to each other, like really talk to each other. Talk about what we love about each other and how we could really help each other improve. We turned this into a list and were completely open with each other, in a way where no feelings were hurt or hearts were broken. And these moments reminded me that I didn't care that we weren't drinking like everyone else from our class because I could feel how much we were growing and was overjoyed with how much we were laughing.

Aside from the people, there comes the environment. Throughout the long bus rides we had to take from city to city, I kinda enjoyed every minute of it. I loved looking out the window and seeing how different the streets were from the U.S., or how the highways were formed, or even just how the people on the street communicated with each other. Even though I'm just an outsider looking in on the small things, those were some of things I took notice of and were the things that made me feel like I was really traveling.

No, I'm not saying that everything was complete bliss when I was in Spain and Italy, but I am saying that it was surely something. It was something that changed me and made me value any plane ride more than I expected. These two trips are what make me want to study abroad and take hold whatever it is that's in store for me as I explore every new destination.