For me, it's not enough to just exist.

That mantra is one of the main reasons that I decided to spend this summer completing a six-week internship offered by a Christian organization in Cambodia, which is sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam, south of China.

Instead of lying on the beach or clearing tables in a restaurant, I hosted teams of Americans that came to teach English to Cambodian young people. I ate crickets, hiked ancient ruins and learned to speak Khmer. It was not a conventional internship, but that uniqueness made it my best summer ever.

No experience has better shaped my understanding of the world -- and my upcoming job search -- than this internship. However, I was initially hesitant before going to Cambodia.

I was fearful of taking on a burden for that country and its people. It can be daunting to travel to a third-world country and learn about the problems of that culture. As a person interested in working in the non-profit world, I constantly feel burdens for people and about issues. I was afraid I would be overwhelmed by the things I would see, hear and learn. Though I have traveled to several countries around the world, the internship was an intensive, long-term trip that would be unlike any short-term trip I had ever completed.

But instead, I felt my world shift during the trip as this new culture put my priorities in perspective.

The advantage of an internship with a focus on relationships allowed me to learn about Cambodian culture in two ways. I visited the Killing Fields, where millions of people died between 1974 and 1979, and then had the opportunity to hear the stories of people who lost family and friends.

Traveling halfway around the world by myself forced me to grow up quickly. Living on my own at college was nothing compared to landing in a foreign land where I knew no one and couldn't speak the language. Spending time living among a people whose entire culture was essentially eliminated 30 years ago puts an American life in perspective. How can I go home to football games and homework when most people live on $2 a day?

Working through that kind of question could have led to feeling the burden I was fearful of. But the relationships I formed with Cambodian people put faces on the issues I was learning about.

One of my tasks as an intern was to coordinate and emcee English camps where teams of Americans would spend the mornings teaching Cambodian young people. My missionary host said frequently that the annual camps are the highlight of the year for most of the students.

I didn't believe him until the last day of camp.

During the closing graduation ceremony, after we presented certificates to the students, all 200 attendees joined together to sing a song appropriately titled "Goodbye My Friends." As we sang the simple tune, the entire room burst into tears.

Teenage guys bawled their eyes out as they hugged each of their teachers to thank them for coming. I have never been so affected by the emotions of another person.

When people ask me how my trip was, I try to describe that moment. I may not have solved world hunger or eliminated poverty, but I was able to spend some time with Cambodian young people. I made a difference to at least one person just by listening.

And that's made all the difference in my life.

Jessica Turnbull is a senior majoring in journalism and Spanish and is The Daily Collegian's Friday columnist. Her e-mail address is jlt5044@psu.edu.