I spent 5 months in Chile. It changed my outlook on where I wanted to live — and helped me find my dream city in the US.

I moved to Santiago to learn Spanish, but my time abroad helped me find the US city I actually wanted to live in once I returned.

Jenna DeLaurentis

Growing up in a small Midwestern city, I always dreamed of moving to a place like New York or Chicago after graduating from college.I wanted to be at the center of everything that made these places so appealing, from the endless entertainment options to the seemingly abundant career opportunities.Yet after studying abroad in Santiago, Chile, during college, cities like New York no longer appealed to me. I chose to study in Chile's capital to learn Spanish and explore South America. I had no idea it would change my entire life trajectory.I loved certain aspects of living there, such as the climate and easy access to the outdoors. The city's size, though, was too big for my tastes.Ultimately, the five months I spent there reshaped my idea of an ideal place to live. I looked for mountains over skyscrapers, sunshine over clouds, and small cities over metropolises. A year after returning from Chile, I settled in Reno, Nevada, where I've been ever since.Moving to Nevada never crossed my mind before I went to Chile, but living there gave me entirely new perspectives.Proximity to nature became important to me