So many people wish to travel and live in a variety of locations at some point in their lives, but freshman Shelbie Bell has already had that chance.

In the past 15 years, Bell has lived in Orange, Key West, Florida, Santa Rita, Guam, Arizona, Monterey, California and Rota, Spain, because of her family’s military lifestyle. The longest time Bell has spent in one location has been one year and eight months in Key West and she said although living in so many different places can be overwhelming, it’s also like going on an extended vacation to the places one loves most.

According to Bell, her favorite place to live was Monterey, California because it was a dream of hers to live in the Golden State and the weather was always perfect, not to mention there was the bonus of having a Starbucks on every corner.

“Of course I loved living in the warm, sunny, beachy weather, however the northern California weather is best, consisting of cloudy, cool, windy weather,” she said.

Bell said she loves to see all the beautiful places that moving around entails, but leaving is always hard after making such good friends. Moving around so much has had a really big impact on her and she knows she definitely wants to travel to many more places, but her permanent home will either be Texas or Florida.

She noted the biggest differences in the United States and other countries are the food, lifestyle and the people, even when the outlets are all different. While living in Guam and Spain, she became a fluent Spanish speaker.

“My favorite culture to be a part of was the Spaniard culture,” Bell said. “It was so fun to be exposed to the new foods, activities, and people. My favorite part of the culture was attending the flaminco dance shows.”

Although Bell has enjoyed being back in Orange, she said she will always leave a piece of her heart wherever she goes.