Travelling has had the biggest impact on my life. For me, it represents anything as small as driving twenty minutes to the local hole in the wall restaurant for authentic food or anything as big as a backpacking trip through Europe. My parents taught me very young to appreciate other cultures; not through their words, but rather through their actions. They started serving me foreign food and taking my family on trips ever since I can remember. These trips were never luxurious resorts that would encase us from the local culture around us. Rather, my parents would strive for us to experience the culture as much as possible: trying authentic food, meeting locals, and staying in homes in the center of the city. This quickly became my favorite way to travel, and the times I looked forward to most. The first trip where I really became aware of my love for other cultures was our trip to Thailand two summers ago. Never have I felt so emerged into a culture from just going to a market or walking around a city. This country is overflowing with such a diverse sense of traditions and values. Travel represents a great deal to me, however it only began to represent challenges to me last summer when I coordinated a two-week European backpacking trip with five of my best friends. As a very organized person it tested my ability to create a flexible outline for a trip rather than a detailed itinerary. This trip made me grow overall as a person by exploring cultures as an individual and by testing my ability to react to obstacles that life throws at me. Traveling and the lessons that I have learned from exploring outside cultures has given me values that I will carry forever.