If anyone asked me one thing I learned from my four years in Pullman, I would say, “study abroad.” Granted, it is a horrendous idea to dig oneself into an even deeper financial hole, especially given the ongoing recession. Yes, the small, familiar confines of Pullman may begin to seep in and win over your heart. Yes, you would be leaving all of your friends or even a significant other for an extended period. Yes, no Panda Express.

None of that matters.

I learned and experienced infinitely more living in Eastern Africa throughout the fall 2008 semester than I did in the three and a half years in Pullman. Now, don’t mistake this for an indictment on WSU. I will be eternally in debt to the university, figuratively and literally. But to say that even students from deemed prestigious schools have all their needs met on campus is a false notion. Indeed, students from institutions such as Middlebury, Brown and Stanford made the trip alongside me.

Attending school in America, wherever it may be, can only get you so far, can only answer so many questions and can only satiate your appetite so much. There is nothing in the classroom at this or any school that can claim to provide the same sort of personal satisfaction studying abroad can provide.

A former Peace Corps member once said to me that America excels at providing an environment in which everything is there for you. Studying abroad to a great extent fails to do this. In that sense, the situation calls upon you to take the initiative to fill in the blank, so to say.

The unfamiliarity of the the environment forces you to either breakdown mentally, to accept or at least understand it, no matter how disgusted you are by it. The mere fact of living in unfamiliar territory precludes you from reverting back to anything and everything you find comfortable. The college experience, no matter what any monograph or guest speaker asserts, cannot replace this.

In terms of measuring the prospect of studying abroad from a cost and benefit analysis, don’t do it. As difficult as it is to believe during the times we live in, believe it. Money cannot factor into every decision concerning education. Not all things can be measured by dollars and cents. Had I, and perhaps more importantly, had my mother measured the prospect of studying abroad by money, I would have lost out on what I believe to be one of the best decisions I have made in my life.

If it’s the prospect of entering a strange new world that scares you, consider the times in life where you were most hesitant to commit: asking someone out, asking a potentially offensive question or questioning someone in power. The times that we are most hesitant to commit are those that stretch us most and those that we stand to gain the most from.

Certainly, notions of growth and experience are dependent on how much you put into the experience itself. But studying abroad puts you in the position to anything beyond Collegetown, U.S. And if college really is the peak of growth and learning in all of our lives, it’s the best decision you could make.