I hope that by attending high school in Israel I will grow closer to my Jewish heritage.  Since I was raised with both Jewish and Christian values, I am able to relate to the customs and traditions of both religions.  While in Israel, I know I will be able to expand my knowledge and understanding of the Israeli culture, as well as identifying  how various religions can exist together in such a small Jewish  nation state.  I am really looking forward to all the field trips, that will help me to see and better understand the nation of Israel.

What I fear the most is being out of my comfort zone.  I will have to adapt to a new environment where a lot people do not speak my native language.  I will enjoy sharing different cultural foods, styles of clothes and local tastes. 

I applied to this program in order learn the basics of the Hebrew language.  I want to learn how the Jewish people struggled for centuries to be able to settle in their homeland of today.   I also applied so I can learn more about how the people in Israel live and work as compared to how we live and work in the US.  I am sure some of the traditions and customs are similar, but many I know are different.