Spend a year abroad - it will change your life

I had no idea what I wanted to do after I graduated university, but I had absolutely no interest in slumming it around home with a boring 9 to 5 job. I wanted to experience life, I wanted to see the world and, most importantly, I wanted to see what I was capable of.

I decided to join the Student Work Abroad Program; I moved to Ireland, lived with an incredibly kind and loving family, and spent a year turning this once-foreign place into my homeland. I met unbelievably interesting people, explored magnificent places and learned so many things about the world - nothing you gain from any job or classroom will ever teach you what these experiences have taught me.

I stepped far outside of my comfort zone, uncovered a world of opportunity and started believing in myself in a way I never thought possible. I became invincible living my dreams every single day, and became more in tuned with who I am and what I truly want from life.

It is without a doubt the most rewarding experience that I have ever had and I could not recommend SWAP more. Traveling means more than moving within a space - it means to move within yourself - and while anyone can go ahead and visit a country, it becomes a whole different story when you live there and have this place become a part of you.

SWAP has given me the one of the most rewarding experience of my life and, for that, I will forever be grateful.