Park University graduate student Bandar Alshammari has a sense of adventure that is unmatched – including a deep desire to pet a cheetah and run with the bulls in Spain.

Alshammari grew up in Sakakah, Saudi Arabia, which is 6,843 miles from Parkville, Mo. The oldest out of nine children, he is the first in his family to graduate from college. His father grew up as a member of a desert tribe named Shammar and still cannot read or write Arabic.

Alshammari found out about Park University through a friend’s recommendation and arrived here in January 2013.

He is now studying for his graduate degree in Public Management.

“I chose this degree because I want to help people on a larger scale,” he says.

He sees himself possibly working at a government job in the future.

Alshammari recollects how his parents when earning his undergrad degree.

“I can’t forget the look on their faces when I got my bachelors degree,” he says. “Their faces were priceless. When I saw their faces I knew I had to give them more and back in Saudi Arabia anyone who can go to the States to get a degree. It’s a big deal.”

Two years ago, Alshammari sold his ash gray, beloved Skyline car and quit his job as the manager of public administration at Aljouf University.

“A lot of people thought I was crazy to do that,” he says.

He then boarded a plane and flew to Denver, Colo., on New Year’s Eve. When Alshammari landed in Denver the first thing he did in the U.S. was make a snow angel.

“When I got out to the parking lot I saw snow for the first time in my life and I had to do a snow angel,” he said. “And I can’t lie to you I tasted the snow a little.”

Coming to America, Alshammari says he had fleeting culture shock. He found very little to be surprising since he had watched hours of American TV shows and movies. He credits them also for his English skills.

“I used to watch Sesame Street a lot when I was little,” he says.

Full of energy and stories it is evident that Alshammari enjoys life.

“I was that kid that looked out the window and wondered what’s out there,” he says. “I’m an adrenaline junky.”

The scars he wears on both of his elbows from motor accidents bear witness to this fact.

From skydiving last year in Denver to catching a hammerhead shark off the coast of Florida, he has had some wild adventures in the U.S.

Alshammari’s travels have taken him to 11 countries and he says he is not anywhere close to being done yet.

One of his favorite memories is when he visited St. Martin for ten days and met an Austrian artist who shared the history of the islands with him.

While walking downtown with his friend Mohammed Aldhuwayhi, they passed an alley with paintings covering the walls.

“It seemed interesting so I asked my friend, ‘Let’s go through here’,” he says. “So we did and there was a couple coming from the other direction. And the wind, from the movement dropped a painting. One of the paintings fell on its face. There was an old guy walking towards that painting. Growing up in Saudi Arabia, we respect the elderly. We respect them a lot. I didn’t want him to bend over to have to pick up the painting, so I ran. I ran, picked it up and put it back again.

“He smiled and he said, ‘thank you.’ I nodded my head. We kept going, me and my friend. And on the right, we saw a mural of the three islands on a wall. So we stood there talking about the islands. And the guy came back from behind us and tapped our shoulders and said, ‘Do you like the painting?’ I looked and it was the old guy that I had picked the painting in front of him. ‘Oh, yeah, we love it.’ He said, ‘I did that.  And I did all these.’ He was the artist.”

Alshammari says this story taught him an important lesson.

“I learned that doing good will always open doors for you,” he says. “It gets you to exciting places and situations. By doing good, I got to talk to this wise artist and learn a valuable history from him rather than Googling it or reading it from a magazine.”

“(Traveling) makes you humble,” he says. “When you travel you see how other people react to simple stuff.  You see how people live the simple life and how they are so happy.”

Alshammari has a lengthy list of goals he still longs to do. Currently, the top three on his bucket list are: a midnight street race through Wangan, Tokyo; petting a cheetah; and participating in a bull run in Spain.

For other free-spirited travelers he encourages them to come to his home country, Saudi Arabia and experience the Arabian nights.  “

The Arabian nights are sitting in the desert with a fire underneath the stars,” he says. “(It has) the clearest sky, so beautiful. You can see all the stars. (It’s) so relaxing and calming.”