A little over two years ago, I picked up my roots in New Hampshire and moved them 3,000 miles across the ocean to the Netherlands.

When my parents first told my little brother and me two months prior that we were moving, I couldn’t even comprehend it. I had lived in the same house since I was 4 years old, and attended kindergarten through eighth grade in the same school district. Switching to a high school 20 minutes away was hard enough, but leaving everything I had to go 3,000 miles away? It seemed unthinkable.

I had always heard my older siblings talk about living overseas thanks to my father’s position in the Air Force, but I was so naive I never actually thought about it. Now I was confronted face-to-face with the fact that I would live in the same European country as them, have the same experiences and live the life that shaped who they all are today.

Some aspects would be different, though, such as my father’s job, working for NATO. I would also be attending Allied Forces North International School with teenagers from 22 different nations, but I would be experiencing it as a high-schooler, compared to the education my siblings received in their middle and elementary years.

In hindsight, I was more afraid and anxious about the unknown, rather than moving to the Netherlands itself. There would be so much “new” in such a short span of time, something I had never gone through before, but something I would come to enjoy in the following years. Living overseas has become a blessing, especially learning new cultures, and how some things are very different.

Here, being very pedestrian-friendly, I have no trouble biking anywhere I need, as far as 11 miles to my job. I often ride the train to Maastricht, a wonderful European city. I have also come to like the food here, with a far shorter ingredient list that I can pronounce without trouble, compared to the United States.

I still get to play my favorite sports, basketball and tennis for AFNorth, as well as attend Junior ROTC. With my teams, I have traveled to Alconbury in England, Mons and Brussels in Belgium, Rota, Spain; and a number of locations in Germany, which is a close border.

Although I live the European way, I attend an international school, with, as I stated earlier, 22 nations under one school roof. I now enjoy going to this building every day, hearing a plethora of languages, walking through the hallways, eating Dutch food at lunchtime and getting a better education than I could ever imagine possible for a high school student.

I have changed, for the better, an unbelievable amount within these Dutch borders, an experience that I only get to have for three years, but which will shape me for the remainder of my life. It is a gift I couldn’t be more grateful for.

Henry Main is a former ConVal High School student, now living in the Netherlands.