This summer, I spent approximately 53 hours traveling on planes, buses, and trains, leaving me with plenty of time for reflection. When I wasn’t sleeping, watching the final season of Never Have I Ever, or looking at the ridiculous outfits people had the confidence to wear, I was thinking about myself. I thought about my life, my impact, my purpose, and what I wanted to gain in the next decade. 

For almost seven weeks this summer, I had the experience to do something that I deem the ultimate privilege: traveling. By visiting five different countries on three continents, I got to see the world in a completely new way. Whether riding the Metro in Paris at midnight after walking along the Seine, eating traditional Irish colcannon on an art farm in rural Ireland, or speaking Spanish with a cab driver in Mexico, I immersed myself in cultures I could previously only absorb online. As I observed the ways other people lived their lives, I learned more about the world around me and reflected on my values and how I wanted to enter my junior year. 

Here are seven of the most valuable lessons I learned this summer: 

1. Just Keep Swimming

On my last day with Westridge in Ireland, I did something I was hesitant to do: I jumped into the farm’s large pond. In what felt like 30-degree water (it was probably closer to 70 degrees), I could have succumbed to the cold and sunk to the bottom. But instead, I let out a loud scream and kept on swimming, or more accurately, treading. This rule applies to my life both literally and figuratively. As a swimmer, the most difficult part about the sport is continuing. Knowing that I could stop after every wall I touch makes perseverance a must. Whether it be working on a tricky assignment, problem-solving with a group, or even simply exercising, having a strong will is necessary. 

2. Work to Live, Do NOT Live to Work

Something that I have struggled with is a general addiction to work. As a Westridge student, it is easy to get caught up in all of my schoolwork and develop the mindset that life is for work and work only. As I examined European culture from an outside perspective, their way of living inspired me. In Paris, I ate at several different restaurants, and two things unified all of their eateries: tasty food and mediocre service. I am not about to critique their service, however, because it is what inspired this main point. Their waiters were laid-back, kind, and silly. In their bathrooms, they hung up memes, and they were drinking behind the bar. While still doing their job somewhat efficiently, these waiters were able to have fun. Work was simply not their number one priority, which I admired. While I can do my work well, I can simultaneously enjoy other aspects of life. 

3. Put Yourself Out There 

As part of a fellowship I partook in this summer, I met with 600 other rising juniors and seniors for a week of leadership programming. I have gone to small schools my entire life so the mere size of the group was inherently intimidating. However, I talked with teens from South Africa, Argentina, Canada, and the United States and learned about their cultures, interests, and life stories. Furthermore, I learned that not every conversation would result in a long-lasting relationship. But in the process of the repetitive conversations of, “What’s your name? Where are you from?,” I saw the benefits and importance of reaching out to people. Even though I didn’t walk away with many new friends from the experience, I now know how to handle myself in similar social settings.

4. Community is Everything

In every place I visited, I noticed the prominence and necessity of community and how it manifests differently in every culture. In South Africa, I learned how important Friday night dinners are, how South Africans all rally together when one of them is sick, and how they all dress up for dinners together. There is no absence of community in my life, and my experiences only reinforced my communities’ importance in my well-being. 

5. Prioritize Passion

I went to about 20 museums this summer ranging in topics from art to army to emigration. I am going to be honest—I strongly disliked visiting at least half of them. Staring at the same style art piece in thirty different manifestations or reading paragraphs upon paragraphs about why a military group used a specific type of weapon is not appealing to me. That’s not to say I do not like visiting museums. I know I am passionate about history and politics, just not niche art and warfare artillery. However, I only came to this discovery because I visited museums with diverse topics. Moving forward, I know I want to visit more museums with historical artifacts, descriptions of immigration stories, and a diverse range of paintings. By doing so, I am prioritizing what I am passionate about and interested in. This is not something that I want to stop at with museums; I want to apply this approach to my entire life. I need to stop wasting my time on things I am uninterested in and instead focus on activities that energize and nourish me.

6. See the World

Before this summer, I knew that I liked to travel; it’s why I embarked on the six-week trip in the first place. But my travels further sparked my growing passion. With lots of barriers impeding me, I don’t have too many opportunities to travel now, but I am sure that it will be a part of my future. There was so much to learn, see, and experience in every city that I visited, and I want to continue my journeys in my future. I want to see more of Europe, visit countries in Latin America that I learned about in Spanish class, and appreciate the beauty that Africa’s countries have to offer. While my opportunities may be limited now, I know that I should jump at every chance I get to travel.

7. It’s Never Too Late to Change

For a long time now, I have had the mindset that it is too late to change or try something new. I think this idea stems from believing that I have to be good at something to do it. However, there is so much more to live for than excellence, and I don’t care what others think anymore. This summer, I saw old men playing accordion on trains, Irishmen playing with pigeons, my friends singing their hearts out to karaoke, and men and women alike carving out wood to make clogs. Every single person I observed had to start from somewhere and had the confidence to learn and fail along the way. Life is too short to care what others think, and by thinking that it’s too late to change, I will only hold myself back from finding things I love. 

As I enter my junior year, my second-to-last year of high school, I feel ready—now more than ever—to take on everything life has to throw at me.