The most beautiful sunset lookout in Rome – Campo Marzio

As I sit here in my last 10 days of my time abroad, I am extremely sad to leave, but I have nothing but complete gratitude for this amazing opportunity I have been living for the last 5 months. These past few months I have flourished into a person I could have only dreamed of becoming before I flew across the world. I was looking to find myself in a new age of life and to grow into a woman who was confident in herself to tackle the world and create all these fond memories with other students I have met abroad, and did I achieve that and beyond some. Some people say “study abroad will change your life” and mean it in a good way, and I have never lived by a statement more. I have met my best friends abroad and created these lifelong friendships over the silly stories we shared these past few months. Through the stolen phones on the “H” bus to the train station in Rome, the making of mega beds in the living room at 3am, or running into the ocean in Barcelona in February, each memory holds a place in my heart I never want to forget. I’ve been lucky enough to journal all my trips and I have kept receipts of restaurants, stores, and postcards so one day I can look back and remember it all like it was yesterday. I have traveled to 13 countries and countless different cities in my time here and have loved each one I’ve stepped foot into. I can imagine myself coming back one day and just deciding to live abroad. I have seen a whole new perspective of the world and it has changed the way I wake up to my life everyday. I am grateful for the solo day trips, the reading on the sandy beaches, and the tiny villages I have seen around Rome. I have become confident in my ability to do anything on my own, and I can thank my decision to study abroad everyday for this experience. I have had the most fun the last 5 months. On my last night here I will be sobbing to leave these beautiful friends I have made. If you ever have that tiny bit of imagination to study abroad, I say to do it. It will change your life in the best way possible as it did to me.

Girls trip to London

Casual walk in the neighborhood

Gaeta Beach, Italy

Driving a boat in the Amsterdam Canals

Springtime at the tulip fields

Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Türkiye

Galentines Day

My favourite monument in Rome – The Trevi Fountain