Falling in love with the places the heart already knows

German has a word that means "homesick for a place you've never been." And, for me, El Salvador was the discovery of that feeling for the first time, my first experience of Fernweh. After my junior year of college, I went to El Salvador for the first time with a group from my university. I was 20 years old, spoke very little Spanish at the time, and had never spent any time in the developing world. Yet, for some strange reason, as I stepped off the plane and into a wall of hot and humid air, I had the overwhelming sense of coming home.

Which was ridiculous. How could a place that I'd never been feel like home? I hadn't even seen the country yet.

Yet, as the days passed and I saw more of the country and had the incredible opportunity to meet people and hear their stories, that initial feeling was confirmed over and over again. From the hustle and bustle of the main plaza in San Salvador to the reverent silence of the memorial rose garden at the University of Central America where six Jesuits were brutally murdered in 1989, from learning how to sleep through the cacophony of sounds in the campo at night to laughing over pupusas at Betty's in Guarjila, El Salvador taught me that home isn't a place; it's a state of heart. Being out of my depth and out of my comfort zone enabled me to be able to really hear people's stories and to document them to share with others upon my return.

When I returned to El Salvador five years later, as our plane touched down, a good friend leaned over to me and said, "Welcome home." For me, Fernweh also has a second meaning: it represents the recognition that home is where the heart is and that the heart never really leaves the places we visit that shape us and help us to grow. My first trip to El Salvador changed my life in ways that are far too numerous to detail in such a limited space, but I've learned that every trip I take, every person I meet, each new home I discover alters my path, maybe a little or maybe a lot, and that all of it has made me who I am.