London

I love London, and it has nothing to do with the Britton/Great Britain correlation. London was the first place I visited on my first trip out of the country, so it will always be a little special to me. More than that though, I love the city itself — the culture, the neighborhoods, the metro, the history, the way everything moves with an air of relaxed busyness.

My expectations for traveling abroad were established when I met a friendly British painter in Parliament Square. One interaction affected my semester abroad, my summer in Europe, and all traveling I will do in the future. I never expected to meet Ian, but I'm glad I did.

Some might say London, or the United Kingdom, or Europe as a whole is too easy or typical. But Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote, "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." Travel is movement. It doesn't matter if that movement takes you 10 or 10,000 miles away. It just matters that you go.

There is tremendous potential for growth when you leave home. I like to think I've learned something and grown a little bit because of every place I've traveled, especially London.