My four-month education abroad experience was the hardest, most valuable experience of my life.

When I arrived in January to the “greenest country in the world,” I was disappointed to be surrounded by a world of brown and gray. I made it through January with the promise of my sister visiting in February and was overjoyed by our backpacking Europe trip. On the second day of our trip, while skiing in the Swiss Alps, I took a tumble down the mountain. And by tumble, I mean tumble. I tore a ligament in my knee and decided to continue skiing down the rest of the mountain. This made the month of February much harder for me as I was forced to navigate a small Dutch town designed for biking on crutches.

After I healed my knee enough to bike again, the sun started shining through the clouds, and I strengthened my friendships with the other exchange students, things started to get a lot more fun. I did many day trips with the other exchange students to different cities in the Netherlands. We went to museums and greenhouses and did lots of vintage shopping. I went to Switzerland and Germany with my sister. I went to Belgium and England with my friends Natasha and Jaime. I went to Carnival in Cologne. I rented a car with other exchange students and drove to Luxembourg. I did a solo trip to Spain and Portugal. I took full advantage of the public transportation system in Europe and enjoyed every second. And I built a network of people around the world that I can call if I need a couch to sleep on.

While I had the best time traveling on my education abroad experience, I was not expecting to spend so much time on the education portion. Wageningen University is an esteemed university for a reason – they grade with high standards and difficulty. I took two pre-master’s courses, one master’s course, and one bachelor’s course. I learned about ecofeminism, globalization and sustainability in food systems, the politics of healthy and sustainable food, and land and water politics. Each week, I did hours of reading, groupwork, studying, and writing. My brain is now overloaded with knowledge about food politics, and my computer is now overloaded with pdfs of academic literature.

I am so incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity and to have received scholarships that made it possible. While it was the hardest four months of my life, I can say I now have the confidence in myself to take on any challenge and the experience to support me through any career. Solo travelling, navigating countries that primarily don’t speak English, and connecting with people from different cultures is the most valuable experience a person can have. I believe that this skillset will take me farther in life than anything I can learn in a classroom.

Name: Breanne Turcola
Status: Junior
Major: Environmental Economics and Management
Hometown: Avon, Ohio
Program: Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands