Dear Future AMHSI students, Tomorrow I leave for America, because I am done with my eight weeks here. This journey has been the most life-changing experience of my entire life. I have learned to look more into my Jewish identity and I feel that I officially have a Jewish home, which is called Israel.

I am leaving for Israel in less than a week, and I am freaking out. All I can think about is being in my favorite place in the entire world with my future best friends. Everyone I talk to who has previously participated in AMHSI says it was the most life- changing experience they have ever done, and they met their best friends who they still, to this day, keep in touch with. I know I am going to love it, and I have no worries about the incredible people I am going to meet.

I have definitely thought about my goals for this session and I have a few. I would like to find myself more spiritually, discovering what I believe in and shape my morals and values.

Just to start off, I can’t even explain in words how much I love Alexander Muss. It has met every single one of my needs and even beyond. I have literally 30 new best friends who I know I will keep in touch with after this program.

Now that I have been in Israel for three weeks, it is clear to me that there is many differences between Israel and America.

Being in Israel during the school year is an experience I have always dreamt of, but never truly thought it was a reality. I have been talking to my parents and every possible contact person I could get a hold of to get more information about studying abroad in High School.

During the April session, there are so many holidays Israel celebrates during these two months. We celebrated both Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut over two days which was a lot to take in, but an amazing experience.

Not just anyone has the guts to stand up from their everyday life and move halfway around the world, alone, to study abroad. It definitely takes a specific, open-minded type of person to do a program like this to study abroad in High School.

Being in Israel makes me smile, but living in Israel allows the mood in the air to make me so happy. No matter what I could be upset about, when I think about being in Israel, every negative emotion floats away. I have never been happier in my entire life, but being in Israel brings out the best qualities in me.

I am quickly approaching the day where I finally get to go to Israel. I have never been there before and AMHSI is finally allowing me to do that. I was very fortunately given the Philadelphia fellowship for the February-March session. So how did I hear about this program?

I am so thrilled to have this opportunity to be able to experience the journey and land of Israel through AMHSI fellowship.

I cannot believe that we leave for Israel in only 12 short days.

Very soon I will be leaving America and arriving in Israel. The amount of thoughts and emotions in my head are endless. I have been waiting for the moment that I would be leaving and flying to Israel for so long, I never thought it would come so soon.

I am so excited to finally embark on this journey that has been so long awaited! I cannot believe that we are only a short 9 days away.

Sitting here in my living room, almost one week away from my trip to Israel, I am feeling a mix of frenzy and thrill! It’s so hard to believe that a week from today I will be saying goodbye to my friends and making my final preparations for my trip.

With the trip to Israel quickly approaching, I am extremely excited, but my one concern is: “Shoot! I haven’t started packing!” Even though that is a slight worry of mine, it will not be one for long. I cannot wait to spend eight weeks in a culture different from my own, and I am ecstatic to be able to immerse myself in new, out of the ordinary, experiences.

As I sit on this cold Philadelphia day in January, I cannot contemplate what my life will be like in two months. In 8 days, I will embark on the experience of a lifetime. My journey to AMHSI will change the way I view my Judaism, will prepare me for college, help me work on my collaborative skills, give me lifelong friends, and it is unfathomable how much more I will get out of my experience abroad. I am extremely fortunate to be given this opportunity, as a 10th grader, to study in a country that means so much to me.

I am sitting at home on a remarkably cold day in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the power out, taking a quick study break from midterms. I can only imagine where I will be one week from today.

It really is officially less than a week before the trip.

I was born in Israel and visit every summer but studying in Israel is something that I have never experienced. I’ve always loved Israel, it’s always been my home.