I have recently received a scholarship to study abroad at Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI). During this course my main focus will be Jewish history and various leadership intensives. It starts in about three weeks and I am very excited, here’s some of what I’m thinking.

I have a pretty good idea as to how the trip will go. This is because of all of the information I have gotten from speaking to a many people, some of them organizers and some people who have been through the program. I have also read everything that I could on their website (including almost all the blog posts I could find) and visited the campus on my recent trip to Israel, so I do have some ideas. What I really expect/look forward to on this trip is all of the experiential learning that I will be taking part in. For example; learning about Masada and then actually hiking up the trail and seeing it for myself. Instead of learning about history/academic topics that I really don’t have a connection to, I will be learning about what my ancestors were doing and how they were living. That is a lot more interesting to me. Combined with hands on learning, it is the best way for me to learn.  

Getting up close and personal with my own ancestral history is what I am looking forward to the most. I have always been really interested in getting deep into history (meaning, actually going to where history took place). It is super cool finding all sorts of different artifacts that people used hundreds or even thousands of years ago. And of course, it makes it that much more interesting that the places we will be going to are the places our forefathers lived. I’m also very excited about the leadership portion of the curriculum. I have always wanted to be someone people can look up to and take a leadership role in things.  Here I have an awesome opportunity to learn how to do just that. I know how much I can and will get out of this program including making many new connections and friends that will last maybe a lifetime.

It’s funny but I don’t really have many fears about the upcoming trip. Though I have never been away for this long, I have traveled far away from home and my family before and I don’t really get homesick that easily. I have also been to Israel many times and have a very good idea what to expect. I would say I’m about 99% more excited to go on this trip than scared to go. It is of course a big change in my life and 8 weeks is much longer than I’ve been away from home, but I don’t think it will be a big problem for me.

In summary, I know this is a huge opportunity for me and my education, I am super excited to be able to go on this amazing journey and to make new friends. I am also very grateful that the Jewish Nation Fund is funding my trip to Israel. Make sure to go look at their website, see what they are doing and what they have to done to support students like me and Israel as a whole.