Over the past four months, I’ve learned a lot and grown a lot. This entire experience has completely changed me as a person, and I hope to bring everything I’ve learned back to my friends and family back in America. My family is not religious at all, and we only celebrate the major Jewish holidays. I never kept kosher, I never celebrated or kept Shabbat. Coming here, I was really nervous about the religious aspect, and about super biased information being shoved down my throat. But since being here, I’ve realized that deep down, I’ve always wanted to be more religious, but I never had the opportunities and the resources to make it happen. But here, I was able to learn about the Jewish history, the meaning behind each custom, and the real connection of the Jewish people. Here, I have been able to thrive as a Jewish teenage girl, and have really grown as a person.

I want to bring my new-found religious Judaism back home to my family and my synagogue. I do not know why my family never opened us up to religion, and kept us extremely reformed, as my dad grew up celebrating Shabbat. I want to bring those traditions back to my family. I also learned a lot about friendship, love, and compassion. Living with people for four months really pushes you to your limits, and shows your true colors. I’ve never felt more like myself than I have while being in this country living with these people. You have to learn to deal with people constantly being in their space, you have to learn to be with people at their best and at their worst, and you have to learn to deal with being stuck with people for months on end without an escape. I’ve learned so much about unconditional love, and that’s something that I definitely want to bring home with me. I want to spread the love that I’ve learned here to the people that I care about back in the states. This country has really changed me, and I want to share what I’ve learned with the people I love. I can’t wait to get home and share my experience with everyone.