Guest post by Marcela De Vivo

Learning in the classroom is great; your studies are structured, and typically you follow along in a book as the professor guides the class through the assignments. But at some point, this can start to get a little bit dry. The same routine, day after day, can make you feel like you aren’t getting much out of your studies.

What if there was a way to make your learning come to life? Eating foreign foods, hearing different languages and tasting of different cultures that you had only read about before—now this makes learning exciting! Not only exciting, but it brings a whole new understanding to the things you study because you are there.

Keep reading, and you just might take your next semester abroad.

Experience a new culture

Traveling abroad opens up your eyes to a world completely different than your own. If you have lived in one place your whole life, you might not even realize how different and unique other cultures can be.

Place yourself somewhere in which you truly get to experience the customs and traditions of the people where you are staying. Get to know what is normal for them, and you may come back with a new set of eyes.

Get to know your heritage

The family tree—it’s something your parents always talk about, and you’ve never had much interest in it—until now. By traveling to where your grandparents, or great-grandparents, were born and lived, you can have a new appreciation for your own family.

Learn a new language

While this may be more realistic for someone living abroad, those traveling can take on the challenge as well! When you immerse yourself in the culture, learning the language suddenly becomes a necessity.

Do simple things, like going to the local market and practice saying the names of the items in their language. Ask a local to show you around, and practice your efforts on them. You may find that you pick it up quicker than you thought.

Gain compassion for others

Traveling to a third-world country is eye-opening and very sobering. Not only does it cause a deep appreciation for your own home and family, it also will likely stir you to compassion for those in such great need.

Seeing the poverty and helplessness with your own eyes can bring you to the realization that these people need help—and you are able to help them. No matter how small you feel your efforts are, anything counts.

Traveling abroad not only enhances learning, but it also makes the quality of your life richer and more fulfilling and exciting. Most travelers will tell you it is definitely worth it.

Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer, world traveler, and business owner who loves visiting countries around the world with her family. She enjoys immersing herself in different cultures, trying unique foods and discovering new music. Follow her on Pinterest,  Twitter, and Facebook today.

Thank you, Marcela!