I only have two weeks left in my study abroad semester, but I'm already getting mushy and sad about leaving my new home, Prague, behind. My semester was far from perfect, but I still can't put into words how happy I am to have ended up in this place. For those of you starting study abroad applications or for those of you about to fly to far off places in a few weeks, here are a few things I wish I had done differently.

1. I wish I had been a tourist in my own city more.

I never shied away from being a tourist; I saw all the sights and ate all of the food and saw all there was to see. But I didn't see enough. With two weeks left, I'm staring at a massive bucket list of things to do before I go and I don't think I'll get to everything. In the beginning, I had the mindset that I would want to save things for later, but I underestimated how much work and how much traveling I would be doing. I know Prague and I feel like a local sometimes, but I wish I had maintained a good level of wanderlust and taken in the city as voraciously as I did for the other cities that I visited.

2. I wish I had emphasized the value of travel less.

When you're abroad, there is a huge pressure to travel and see everything and everywhere. Every few weeks, when I would see my classmates uploading image after image of all the cities they had seen, I felt pressure to travel, too. I would sometimes just sit on my computer searching for flights and trying to come up with last minute travel itineraries that inevitably fell through. In the end, I only took four or five travel weekends and saved a bulk of my adventuring for after my program. Traveling is great, but I know Prague better. Traveling can happen at any point in your life and when else can you say that you lived for four months in one of the most beautiful cities in the world?

3. I wish I hadn't believed all the study abroad urban legends.

There are millions of myths circulating around study abroad. You hear of one person whose friend fell in love with a Frenchman in Paris. You hear of people finding friendships that last a lifetime. One time, I heard of a girl who saw a surprise Miley Cyrus concert in a gay bar in London. In the beginning, anything is possible. But don't expect anything to happen. Don't expect to fall in love or find your new best friend or catch Miley Cyrus at a gay bar. So much of the study abroad experience is blown out of proportion and romanticized that it's hard to gauge whether the experience was good or not.

4. I wish I had been more confident in myself.

I came to Prague full of self doubt and insecurity. I was afraid to be myself and afraid to let these people in, but in the past few weeks I've realized that I didn't have to be so nervous the entire time. I was fine, I was a good person and I was enough. Study abroad immediately dwarfs you into the worst version of yourself during freshman orientation and, in order to bounce back, you need to have faith in yourself. This applies not only to friendships, but to the actual studying that you will be doing. For me, I learned again and again that I just needed to trust my instincts.

5. I wish I had been comfortable being alone a lot sooner.

I used to be extremely independent, yet college and having friends that are basically family changed me. I was afraid to do anything alone but quickly figured out that being comfortable navigating a new world alone is the most rewarding experience. I flew to Amsterdam for a weekend by myself and spent an entire weekend doing exactly what I wanted when I wanted to. I met a lot of great people by chance and had probably the best time. Now I'm about to go on an 11-day trip around Italy. I feel a lot more independent and ready to begin the next chapter of my life.

As a junior in college, I'm very aware that, in three semesters, I'm about to be thrown full force into the real world. A world without parents and without college, where I will need to provide for myself and start making positive change towards the future I want. Being on my own in a new city has really helped me gain confidence in myself as an adult, which I never expected. I am ready and excited to move towards my future, especially because I know that Prague will always be there.