Peru- Ending

These past five weeks have changed me for the better. I feel stronger, more mature, and ready for anything. My professional and academic goals have actually gotten less focused because I realized that having a career is not the only purpose of life. Traveling just for a little made me just want to travel more, so I now want to save up and set aside time to travel before I am tied down by a family or a career.
I have often felt fairly confident and capable, but this experience tore this perception down, and then built it back up. When I signed up to go to Peru, I thought, “I can totally do this, this’ll be a walk in the park.” But when I actually was on my way to the airport I got pretty nervous because I didn’t know anyone on the trip, I was going to be living alone with a family that spoke no English in a foreign country, and I had no idea what to expect. But I just pushed through and kept a positive attitude the entire time, and I not only made it through, but also had a fantastic time doing it. I now know how much more capable and independent I am because of it.
My favorite experience by far was the sea lion encounter. On our only free day in Lima, a group of about nine of us signed up to “swim with sea lions”. After an hour and a half long boat ride, we saw an island covered with over 8,000 sea lions. We then climbed into some wetsuits and swam right up to them. I felt like I was in an episode of Planet Earth with hundreds of sea lions swimming all around me and even brushing my legs. I don’t know if I will ever have the chance to experience something like that again.
My advice to people considering studying abroad would be to pick something crazier than you think you can handle. If you have the right attitude, you will accomplish things you never though you could have, and you will love yourself for doing so.
I really want to co-op abroad to experience working in a different country, and I am hoping to get the chance in either Spain or Italy. But I’m not dead-set on those places, so we’ll see where I end up.