When I was 16 years old, my older brother traveled halfway across the world to study abroad. As I looked at his pictures and heard him share his fondest memories, I instantly became enamored with the whole idea of studying abroad. Six years later, I found myself standing in front of the terminal gates at the Dallas airport about to embark on my six-month study abroad journey to London. To my surprise, instead of being overwhelmingly excited, I was absolutely petri ed about what awaited me across the pond. I walked away from my parents knowing that for the first time in my life I would no longer be ve minutes away from them. Instead, I was going to be more than 4,000 miles from them. In that moment, as I stared up at the boarding sign, I realized that everything familiar to me was about to be gone.