I’ve lived abroad twice before turning 21, and they have been the best decisions of my life.
When I was 19, I moved to Australia for a semester abroad. When I was 20, I moved to Nepal for an internship. These experiences are ones I will cherish for the rest of my life, and have made me who I am today. They taught me more than any class I’ve ever taken at UW–Madison. I am the biggest proponent of moving abroad, following your dreams and trying out something new. So here are five reasons why I think everyone should move abroad in their 20s.
1. It makes you independent
When you’re abroad in a country that you have possibly never been to for the first time ever, you are totally alone. You have no one, and that is so exciting! Not only does no one know you but you have to get used to doing things yourself. In order to make friends, you have to put yourself out there. If you want to try a certain food place the first few days, you have to go alone. And all these little things slowly make you more independent than other people. I have so many friends that are petrified to do things alone. After moving abroad, something like getting a coffee alone, which used to scare me, isn’t scary anymore. It’s fun.
2. It expands your worldview
By moving abroad you are in this entirely new environment. You get to expand your culture, and meet so many new people that are totally different from you. You get to adapt and be a part of a culture and a group of people that you had not been able to be before. Plus, you get to live in and get to know a new area that may be very different from your own original home, which I think is super cool!
3. It Changes your Values
In Nepal, people have different values when it comes to family than people in the ‘Western World.’ In Australia, people are less stressed about working and more worried about living than in the U.S. After these experiences, it has made me reconsider my own values in terms of family life, and emphasize spending my days purely living over living to work like people in America are often raised to do.
4. You can totally reinvent yourself
You’re in a new place where no one knows you. So… you can reinvent yourself into someone totally different. No one knows that you’ve never gone bowling or that you threw up during a work shift. If you’ve always wanted to try to be a professional pickleball player, you could without anyone knowing that you’ve never played pickleball. Yes, you can just be yourself but with it also comes the opportunity to become someone new or someone that you always dreamed about being.
5. It will teach you a lot
No matter what happens when you move abroad, you will learn a lot. Whether that be about love, yourself, other people or other fun facts, you will learn a lot. That will all slowly contribute to your livelihood of becoming a better person.
Ultimately, moving abroad is scary, but the lessons, experiences and memories that come with it make it more than worth it. This is why I ultimately recommend everyone to experience it on their own one day because I am convinced that moving abroad is truly the best thing you can do for your own self growth.