Harlaxton College was simply put, the best experience of my life and I couldn’t imagine what my life would be without it. It opened my eyes to the world, it forced me to make my own plans and be more independent, and most of all it provided me the chance to see friends that I would normally only see in the summer.

The world is much bigger than I imagined. This may seem silly, but having never traveled outside the United States, it is easy to forget that there is more out there. Every weekend trip brought a new chance to see something I had never seen before, and the number of castles and cathedrals I had the opportunity to see made the United States seem so young and so small.

There isn’t a place that compares to Notre Dame in Paris or Edinburgh Castle. They hold more history than any place in the United States and their size dwarfs the buildings that we see in our own streets. It was the places that I didn’t expect to see that left me the most awed, such as the Arch de Triumphe in Paris that is much bigger than I imagined and the National Park in Leicester that had many British animals I had yet to see.

While at Harlaxton, I met people that I am lucky to call my friends. It is the reason I am planning a road-trip to Indiana in the fall and the reason being home feels so difficult. I joined the basketball team, a decision I will never regret, and even spent the semester as a resident assistant. These opportunities allowed me to meet new people and realize how much I love playing basketball, even if I was one of only two girls.

It is strange to think that I didn’t get most people’s phone numbers because when at Harlaxton you either knocked on their door or messaged them on Facebook. If I wanted to talk to anyone while travelling, I had to find a place with WiFi, which was much more difficult than you would think.

When I worked to plan my weekends, I learned that I controlled everything that I would do and I had to learn to trust in my own sense of direction. I also learned that confidence is everything, and if you approach someone in an effort to adjust to their culture, they will be much more likely to help you. In Paris, I learned a few French phrases that allowed me to at the least show I was making an effort.

My summer camp friends were almost the entire reason I went abroad. Many of the staff lived in the UK, and I made as much of an effort as possible to see most of them. From traveling to London to Edinburgh, it was amazing to see my friends in the place they lived instead of at camp in Pennsylvania. Without them, I would not have had the gumption to study abroad.

Harlaxton was the most amazing semester of my life. Classes were difficult, weekends felt too short, but the 16 weeks I spent at that college are ones I will remember forever. It has been almost two weeks since I stood at Harlaxton, and adjusting back to the United States is difficult, but the memories I made there continue to keep a smile on my face.