But — this is the very thing that makes it amazing.

Just visiting a foreign land changes you a little. You experience new voices and culture (I’m not talking about a weekend in Canada).

But living there. Negotiating the currency, the language. The people, but no longer as a tourist. You’re not just eating pulpo in Ourensé, or pinchos in Barcelona, you’re becoming a different person than you would have been if you had just stayed home.

When people suggest that “it must have been amazing,” on the surface they mean “exotic.” But at some level I think they have a sense that to get that opportunity is life changing.