Well, here I am. Back at home, back in reality. Back to sitting in a classroom thinking about the times when I had a whole country as my classroom. No more core classes, no more tiyulim, no more chilling in the hod. We all are separated now. No more Talia and Yarden. No more lights out at 11:30. No more “boker tov” over the bus speaker. Now, that I am back in the real world, I can see the permanent mark AMHSI has left on me. As I go back to my home school I have to adjust to the new schedule and going back to my American teachers. 

Now that I am home, I need to adjust to waking up in my own room without my roommates. I can no longer just get up and be surrounded by all of my friends. Likewise, I have to follow my home routine so I can no longer just leave to go get Moshiko’s or Cofix. I now study American Government and English instead of Jewish and Israeli History. As I hang out with my home friends, I feel like a new person, more mature, more respectful, and a better problem solver, all skills I picked up at AMHSI. I continue, every day, to tell my friends about my trip, listing everywhere I went and everything I did. Even though I know I keep telling them the same thing over and over again I can’t help talking about something I am truly passionate about. 

Before I went to Israel, I called myself a Zionist because I was told I was a Zionist, because I didn’t know anything else. Now I have seen the beauties of the Holy Land, the spot where the Hebrews were led after the Exodus from Egypt. I’ve seen the very spot where Israel gained its independence. I’ve been to Poland where I have seen where millions of Jews were murdered in the Shoah. I will never forget our first tiyul to Tel Gezer. We were all in shock by this crazy place where we could literally touch our history. Little did we know the treasures of Israel that we would witness within the following 8 weeks. 

My expectations for HSI were set high from the start and even with that, this program has exceeded my expectations. My life will truly never be the same after the inspiration that I have gotten out of Eretz Yisrael, Am Yisrael, v’ Torat Yisrael.