I was studying abroad in a developing country in sub-Saharan Africa. Started dating someone there who was a part of my program. Fell in love for the first time. Accidentally got pregnant. At that point I found myself in a seriously fucked up situation because I really realllly didn't want to have a kid at 20 and fuck up my college education, which I had worked very hard for and was paying for myself with loans and work study...but I had failed to consider that abortion isn't legal in most African countries. If I came home I would have been leaving my study abroad program and been put on leave of absence automatically. And then on top of that, when faced with the possibility of jumping on a plane and coming home, I didn't know if I could go through with an abortion. So I went through all this emotional turmoil coming to accept that I was having a baby. My friends weren't happy about it and really judged my decision and being abroad I felt totally, utterly alone. Then, 8 weeks along, I started bleeding. Had a horrible incomplete miscarriage that had to be finished off at a hospital, where I was given a drug that induces labor, without being told what it would do. A month later had to come back to the U.S., broke up with the guy. So I ended up dealing with an unexpected case of reverse culture shock (nobody tells you it will be harder to go back home than it was to leave), the emotional baggage of a miscarriage and losing my first "real" love. I was seriously seriously depressed and couldn't process my emotions.

Getting over that made me grow the fuck up. Which consisted of a lot of therapy and stuff before I finally just said "fuck it" because I was so tired of being sad. I know a lot of people can't get over depression in that way, but for me it was that simple. Started doing whatever I felt like doing. It's been 3 years, and since that whole fiasco I've felt and acted like a much more mature human being, and am much happier in general (even happier than I was before it even happened). Currently living in said country again, finishing up spending a year here, which I decided I wanted to do after college.