Every day, people around the world make the decision to volunteer abroad. Some might be teaching English while others might be building health clinics for a local village. Whether it’s in the buzzing city or in the far-flung country, international service trips are experiences you’ll never forget.

Deciding to make space in your life for an international service trip brings a lot of rewards. It’s an experience that’s not a vacation, but rather a time of emotional and cultural growth. Tucker Hutchinson, the marketing director of Go Overseas, a website which helps people find opportunities abroad, shares some of his insights for volunteering abroad in his video, “Why Should You Go.” Some of the main rewards he mentions are the new friends you’ll make, the culture you’ll be a part of firsthand and the challenge of being the best you can.

You’ll have the opportunity to expand your social network by making plenty of new friends with fellow volunteers and within the community you are working in. You can spend months reading about a culture, but nothing brings it to life more than living it. Waking up, eating, socializing and working within a different context can bring new meaning to your own culture too. Volunteering abroad can also be hard work, and being in a different culture can produce culture shock in the form of frustration or loneliness. Overcoming these challenges is one of the greatest rewards of an international service trip because it strengthens you as an individual while also creating a community between everyone involved. Read the rest of this entry