Anywhere between the spring semester of your sophomore year and the fall semester of the senior year, the idea of study abroad becomes a very realistic consideration. There are a million reasons to go abroad; you can drink legally, night clubs are awesome, and all of your Instagram posts are gonna be cooler than everyone else's. If you know anyone whose ever studied abroad (and chances are you do), then you have probably heard them talk about their experience endlessly, how life changing it was or even how cultured they are now, and there's a solid chance you also thought it was really annoying (and that's fair because we are). There is a reason, though, that we post-study abroad students just can't get enough of reminiscing on our time in whichever foreign city we went to, and with this excitement, it is my personal belief that everyone should try study abroad.

I, of course, understand though, that that is not as easy as it sounds. With a lot of majors, finding a good time to go can seem impossible, not to mention study abroad is not cheap and not within everyone's financial means. But I will say, if ever you have the chance to go abroad, don't hesitate, do it.

You may be wondering "why" or "what's the big deal?" My personal conviction to this is not about encouraging cultural expansion or the promise of life-changing experience, these are very grand and romantic ideas. What it comes down to though, that rarely are we given an opportunity like this at all in our adult lives to live in another country and experience the world with our peers.

Traveling with a group of friends is nothing like traveling with family. It comes with a measure of complete and total independence, which though may sound scary, is actually very liberating. What we are used to doing with our friends in our schools and homes obviously already makes us happy, but the feeling of seeing and experiencing the world with friends your age comes with a level of almost indescribable excitement. Along with this, there is never a guaranteed opportunity of accessibility for us to have the actual freedom and time to travel the world like this, and study abroad is one of those opportunities worth jumping on at the first chance.

Again, I realize that this is all easier said than done, but I encourage this so passionately because of what study abroad has done for my life, and because of that I would want others to be able to share the same experiences. There is a reason that when study abroad students come home we have the irritating tendency to only talk about our trip for a while (we don't always mean to, it can be hard to not think about it though I mean it's really awesome). Study abroad is one of the most worthwhile things that I think we as young adults can invest in. It's a major once in a lifetime opportunity that we don't always consider as such, and given its rarity, I really passionately encourage everyone who has the chance, to go.