Traveling to Europe for 6 weeks this summer was the worst decision of my life. During this time I was forced to learn new things, make new friends, and explore 6 different countries and 15 different cities. I was forced to hike to a castle, watch a sunsets from hilltops, swim in thermal baths, and take a gondola ride all while shoving my face with the best food and drinks I've ever had.

This experience made me learn so much about myself and so may other cultures. I learned a couple words in a lot of languages and realized that not everyone speaks english. I figured out public multiple forms of transportation without being able to pronounce a single word in the language. I learned just how ignorant and entitles American's can be sometimes; including myself. I discovered how much I love traveling and exploring new places. Traveling in foreign countries taught me how to be more independent, confident, and resourceful. It put into perspective what is important in my life and what I can do to change the things I don't love in my life. After flying and training alone between countries, I now feel like I can handle any U.S. airport with ease.

The people I met along the way were some of the most amazing people I have met. The friends I made were people I would have never had a chance to get to know in the United States. It took traveling half way across the world to meet incredible people that I needed in my life. I lived with, shared everything with, got lost with, and experienced so many things with these strangers. I have never got closer to a group of people in a shorter amount of time. After three days of knowing each other, we were all incredibly comfortable and honest with each other.

The things I learned and witnessed truly humbled me. The oppressive history of many of the countries I visited really put into perspective how truly lucky we are to live in the United States. The economies of many of the countries were completely suffering, and the people need to work so hard to be able to support their families.

Traveling throuh out Europe didn't exactly ruin my life. This experience was the most incredible thing I have done in my life. I would not trade the lessons I learned or the memories that I made for anything.