Traveling around and exploring new places is one of the best things you can do for yourself. The graduate student / researcher in me wants to show you a citation to support that statement, and I am sure that there are some out there but I don’t have one for you. Nope. I’m going to support the statement by saying something that every researcher hates to hear: I just know it. It is something that I can just feel and know to be true.

Not only have I had the chance to travel around a few countries (and a decent size of the US) but I’m lucky enough to be living in a foreign country for an extended period of time for the second time in my life. And that is both incredibly exciting and a little terrifying. Sometime between camping in the Mojave, to staying in a rural village in northern Italy, I learned a thing or two about myself including why I love to travel and explore.

6. Exploring the Natural Beauty. While I’m not one to pass up hanging out by the pool all day, I love exploring the natural beauty of a new place. From the cloud forest in Costa Rica, to blooming gardens in Japan, to the gorgeous Mojave and Anza Borrego deserts, the natural beauty of the world never stops amazing me!