It has always amazed me that some of the world’s greatest discoveries were accidentally made by people looking for something else. Alexander Fleming, for instance, discovered the antibiotic penicillin in 1928 when his neglected bacteria culture got moldy.

In the 1940s, four teenage boys stumbled upon some of the world’s oldest cave paintings in Lascaux, France, when they followed their dog into a hole in the ground.

Even Christopher Columbus was just trying to find a faster way to India when he sailed into the Americas.

But even more incredible to me than the significance of these discoveries is the fact that these people took the time to appreciate what they found.

I mean, imagine if those boys had not understood that the paintings in that cave were anything special, and simply found their dog and went home without ever telling anyone what they had seen.

Or what if Fleming had merely glanced at the mold and then thrown the spoiled culture away?

Even Columbus could have decided to merely stock up on supplies and keep sailing.

Marcel Proust once said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

In other words, discovery is not about the things you may see, but the way you look at them.

This past fall, I studied at the TCU London Centre and was fortunate enough to see several well-known places, but the most fulfilling experiences came when I abandoned my checklist and took the time to appreciate anything I came across.

For instance, one day, I decided to take a stroll along Fulham Road, a street near my residence hall.

When I set out, my only intention was to see how long it would take to walk to a cinema up the street, and so I let myself randomly stop to read placards, stare at buildings and watch other people enjoying the day.

On that day, I saw several wonderfully designed churches, a Volkswagen Beetle straight out of the 1960s parked between Aston Martins and, my favorite discovery, a placard on a brick wall marking the spot where Beatrix Potter’s house once stood.

Everything I saw that day was mundane and easy to overlook, but I remember almost every detail of that day more clearly than when I saw some of London’s most famous attractions.

Life can become pretty hectic for college students.

As we try to balance academics, socialization and personal health, we become engrossed in checklist schedules.

But the greatest moments in life are unplanned and occur when we allow our eyes to wander to whatever entices them and allow ourselves to appreciate what we see.

This is not to say that we should completely abandon our class schedules to frolic merrily on Sadler Lawn just for the change of scenery, because it is not about new landscapes.

Rather, as we go through our days, we should take time to see everything we see everyday from a new perspective.

And who knows, maybe that fruit you left molding on the counter, that one hole you keep tripping over on your way to class, or even that “faster” route you planned to get to the Stockyards will yield greater discoveries and adventures than you ever imagined.

Talia Sampson is a junior news-editorial journalism and international relations major from Moorpark, Calif.