I've also learned bigger life lessons, like the fact that the people who matter most will always be there for you. My best friends and I skype often and are still a big part of each others' lives even though I am far away.
Travel also helps me to be more grateful for the things. On days when it is cold or rainy or when I am extra tired and I have an hour commute from school to home on three different buses, I am grateful for my car in the US. I am Catholic, so I go to church often. When I go to church here, it is all in Slovak. It makes me grateful for getting to go to church in English back home and having a community there. In the moments that I miss friends, family and living with roommates who are close friends, I am even more grateful for those relationships. There are also things in Slovakia that I try not to take for granted, such as my host family and the friends I have made, because once the year is over, those relationships will not be the same. Here, I am also grateful for all of the fresh food, the ability to get anywhere by public transportation, the opportunity to travel to different countries just for a weekend, and the fact that I can buy a slice of pizza for 50 cents to eat as I walk down the street.
I hope that when you get the chance, you will travel and see the world. It is one of the most important things that a person can do. When you go, I hope you will do your best to visit the place like a local instead of a tourist. Eat at the little cafe on an unnamed street instead of the Hard Rock on the main street. Go to local events. Watch the news in that city. You will learn so much more.
