Most of the time, a vacation is a vacation. You make up vague ideas about what the place is like, but rarely can get out of the tourist-constructed parts of the city. That all changes when you actually move someplace for a while.

I studied abroad in Vienna, and feel like I got to know the city better than I could have otherwise.

I was more educated in being a citizen of the world after completion of my study abroad. Living in a culture rather than just studying it or visiting it opens an outsider up to knowing the culture as a whole rather than just knowing an aspect of it. Knowing another culture outside of one’s own creates a thirst for getting to know still other cultures outside, and perhaps inside, one’s own.

I also began this quest for knowledge of other cultures during the study abroad by getting to know students of other cultures in the program and people of other cultures within the Viennese community. Everyone could benefit from hearing from a person who knew another culture completely and could see the real truth about it, rather than just reading about it in a book or magazine. I was able to bring open-mindedness to my discussion based classes that would pervaded the atmosphere. At home, I encouraged international students and students who had studied abroad to engage in more open discussions about nationality and other differences to see what brings us closer and what tears us apart.

Studying in Vienna not only assisted in my academic and musical education, but also in my education as an independent person and as a person of the world. Studying abroad and living on my own taught me independence and maturity. I learned to be assertive in communicating with people who didn't always speak the same language as I did, I had to take care of every aspect of my life, and I had to navigate foreign places. Studying abroad forced me to grow up even more than college did.

After my return to campus, I took more initiative in inciting change because I wasn't afraid to go up to anyone and speak with them and I had a new confidence in myself so I brought a happier and more self assured presence to all of my activities.

I think that everyone should take advantage of living abroad at some point in his or her life. It is nothing like simply taking a vacation.