I had an outline of where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do and who I wanted to see.
However, looking back on my experiences now, no amount of time would have prepared me for my adventures. Although I checked off to-do items from the proposal I submitted to the scholarship committee in Nov. 2014, there were moments I never thought would be salient that were.
For example, my experience in São Paulo was one of stress, but it was also one of the best weeks I had in Brazil. I never made it inside a stadium there, and while I could have fretted about missing an item on my proposal, I instead enjoyed the moment with the people around me.