Most Important Things I Learned Living Abroad

While your classmates were struggling to move out of their mother's basement you hopped a whole continent. Whether it's study abroad or you made the big bad move on your own, life has changed for the better.

Independence. At home there's mom and dad, your friends, a significant other if you're lucky, basically an endless supply of love and support. Moving abroad puts thousands of miles between you and them, I moved to Portugal with my fiancé which made everything a lot easier, but the longer you're there the less often you talk to your friends from home, everyone says they'll visit and very few do and your life changes. You get to decide exactly who you want to be, what you want to do each day and the person that you're going to put out into the world.

How to adapt. Things can get annoying while traveling or adjusting to living abroad. Especially if you don't speak the language, there are many challenging aspects to changing countries. When I was living in Belize last year it was amazing how quickly I acclimatized to finding tarantulas, scorpions and snakes amongst my personal belongings daily-- no hourly. But aside from creepy crawlies, there might be people who annoy you, customs that you're not used to and it's all a big adjustment, but with each new thing you get better and better at rolling with the punches.

Live simply. To be honest, this is something that my fiancé is still trying to instill in me. I love fashion and was lucky enough to have a part time job at Anthropologie which included employee perks like discounts there, at Free People and at Urban Outfitters so I have quite the extensive wardrobe, and I find that whenever I'm traveling I want to wear the clothes I didn't bring with me. However, it was so incredibly liberating to shed my wardrobe, bring some of my favorite things (only a few pairs of shoes!) and pack lightly.

There's no such thing as normal. Throw everything you know out the window. Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad says that normal is a setting on the washing machine. It's true. Each culture, whether you're traveling from the US to Mexico or the US to Cambodia is so vastly different. Neither are better, neither are worse but you've learned to expect the unexpected. Try foods you'd never eat in your country of origin (or never even heard of) embrace new cultures and live authentically. Soak up every difference, because that's what makes the experience so special.

Happiness is a choice. Even though I've just gone to great lengths to point out the differences among various cultures one thing is consistent and that's happiness. So many people spend their lives saying "once I have this... once I do that... I'll be happy" when living abroad you see people from all walks of life, all abilities, all ages and they're genuinely happy about all of the little things. People in devastating poverty that I could never comprehend have chosen to smile and carry on with happiness. People take things slow, savor the moment and make time for things. Leave work early, quit altogether! Take a long lunch, meet your friend at the cafe, go out to dinner and then dance all night. Traveling teaches you to live life to the fullest. Traveling teaches you to be happy.