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By all means DO IT!
And do it while you're young. Travel ... living abroad will open your mind up to people, cultures and world politics like nothing else can. It's an education you can't get from reading.
I'm a native Californian. When I decided to make a big change in my life ... I quit my job and left the US. I moved to the West Indies for 2 years then in the UK for more than another year. I travelled all over France, Spain, Greece, Turkey ... all while living out of my luggage. I later moved to the east coast of the US and lived in Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island.
Eventually I came back to California ... but I learned so much.
There's good and bad everywhere. I love aspects of each place I've been. In the end I believe, to the bottom of my heart, that the US is still the best place to grow up - all things considered. While it's quite unfashionable to be patriotic there's so much we take for granted in this country (I'm not talking about material luxuries but personal, economic, political opportunities and freedoms). One can't appreciate it unless he/she's lived abroad. I won't go into my diatribe about cultural differences. There are many things I absolutely adore in other countries and I've seen so many incredibly beautiful sights in Europe and Asia ... but, in the end, I'm happy to have been born an American.
Do it. It'll mature you in many ways ....
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