Traveling to another country, whether you have done it before or not, can be extremely scary. Last summer I studied abroad in Italy by myself, which was the first time I have ever been out of the country. Currently I am in Lisbon, Portugal, and have been traveling on a faculty led program with other UA students. The staunch differences in traveling alone versus in a group shocked me, but not in a bad way. Both ways of traveling are extremely fun, both with their own perfects. Traveling alone is much more “freeing” experience; there is no one to answer to but yourself and you travel at your own pace. It teaches you how to truly think for yourself, and you must learn how to be comfortable being on your own. If you are in a program full of strangers, you must put yourself out there and make new fast friends, which can be really hard to make yourself do. But it is such a rewarding experience after the fact; you learn so much about yourself and become so much more confident in your abilities to do life. Traveling in a group is great too. Since we are in a group, we have had a lot of stuff planned for us, making is easy to just go and do, not think. The company aspect of the group is also amazing. Traveling alone can get lonely, and having people you know and love to hang with makes traveling even more fun. Either way, traveling is always a good time. Whether you are traveling alone or traveling with a group, you are bound to have lots of fun and laughs, and you will learn stuff along the way.
