It’s cold. Painfully cold. So cold, I begin to question the logic behind my thrill seeking madness. It’s these sort of crazy people that end up on the news, right? The headlines screaming American Found Frozen Between Tectonic Plates, Iceland. The water is only up to my ankles, and already, a string of eclectic language has escaped my lips. It’s now or never, though. The frozen body of a Hawaii teen was located in the chilly waters of Iceland… I double-check that my mask is on tight, dry suit valves are locked and closed.

When I lived in Montenegro, I used to play Minecraft with two of my friends.  It was a lot of fun for us.  When my family left Montenegro, I was sad that I wouldn’t be able to play with my friends anymore.  When I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for a week, I met two other traveling kids who played Minecraft, and I played with them when we could.  Recently, I decided to try to arrange a time for all of us to play over the Internet, to connect and have fun.

Descending further down into the ocean, seeing the water enclose over the top of your head, is just a taste of what it is like to SCUBA dive.  Being under the ocean in a marine inhabited area is truly breath-taking.  When you’re ninety feet under the water, you forget all the worries and problems that you had on land, and completely check out.  The ocean is one big Zen.

This video was filmed in Corsica, France on the beautiful streets of Sartan.

You’ve hired the international movers, and are ready to embark on the grand adventure of moving abroad. However, there’s always a pulse-pounding moment when you stop to wonder if you’ve lost your mind. What have you gotten yourself into this time? How can you even hope to keep your mental equilibrium through the massive changes of an international move? What does it take to build a life that’s authentically your own in a country that isn’t?

Gaining international experience is important in understanding different life styles, cultures, and helps you grasp a whole new perspective of the world around you. My first experience abroad came when I was eleven. My older brother Owen had just graduated from high school, and as a gift, my parents took the family to Europe for a month.