While all of my friends stayed in Sacramento last summer watching daytime TV, I was working my tail off in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I had always wanted to volunteer overseas and I knew it would be the experience of a lifetime, but I had no idea it could be as incredible as it was.

I spent the majority of my summer in a small village in Thailand, about 40 miles north of Bangkok. Who would have thought that living on the grounds of an orphanage in a developing country with 100-degree heat and millions of mosquitoes would have been an incredibly rewarding experience? I had softball-sized welts from insect bites, ate food so spicy my mouth went numb and my lips turned blue and became so sick that I was in bed for the first two weeks I was at home. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t have traded any of it — except maybe the bug bites.

I taught English and computers five days per week to orphans aged 6 to 23. Those days were sometimes grueling; only one room had air conditioning, and the campuses had strict modesty rules prohibiting shorts and sleeveless shirts. However, the teaching was the best part of the experience; even though I didn’t speak any Thai and they could barely understand English, we were able to learn so much from each other. These children are some of the most disadvantaged in the world. Giving them the tools they will need to be successful was an indescribable feeling.

The key to really getting a feel for a foreign country is to stay away from typical tourist places. On my days off from teaching, I traveled everywhere I could and saw a great deal of the country. The small villages I visited were some of the most intriguing places I’ve ever been. I spent time with monks in Buddhist temples, saw a spectacular performance of a local dance troupe in a small village on the border of Laos and stayed with a three-generation family who lived in the back room of a tiny food stand. While being blonde, white and tall made it difficult fitting in with the Thais, I did my best to live like a native.

I chose this particular place for my first volunteer experience for many reasons, most of them involving my own personal preference. There are volunteer and internship opportunities all over the world in all fields of work. Searching for a volunteer experience can be as simple as an Internet search.

It’s difficult to put into words how incredible the experience of volunteering overseas is. Not only does this kind of experience look great on a resume, but with so much need in the world, there is no better way to experience another culture than to immerse oneself in it as completely as possible.