One thing you will always come across when you go abroad all by yourself is spending a lot of time on your own. This can be intimidating but don't make the mistake to confuse being on your own with being alone and lonely.
For me, this was one of the most important things I learned when moving to Ghana. As a child, I could be pretty solitary, spending hours on end alone in my room, playing, reading or drawing. However, as soon as I was changing the environment and leaving home, I would feel more or less uncomfortable going there by myself.
Naturally, this is something a lot of teens experience and something that automatically gets better as time goes by. Ghana has done more for me though. Now, I don't just feel comfortable doing things on my own, I feel perfectly happy. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy spending time with friends as much as anyone else, but being on your own also has its unbeatable perks:


1. You can do whatever you feel like doing without having to adjust with someone else.

2. You get to spend quality time with the person you know best in the world: you

3. You will see yourself, who you want to be and what life means to you more clearly than ever

4. You can lean back and just listen to your thoughts as they wander around in your head

5. Your relationships will benefit from it: you know you're spending time with that particular person
because you thoroughly enjoy it, not because you depend on it, which will make you appreciate the ones close to you even more

I have made the experience that you are far less lonely being on your own, than wasting time with people you can't connect to. So get out, do things without inviting anyone else to join you, hike through a forest, take a swim and float quietly through the water, or just take a good book with you to your favorite places.

- Sarah