As a finish up my last few days at AMHSI, I enjoy looking back at the very beginning of my journey. The reason I came to Muss, what my goals and expectations were, and my journey since then. It started with my brother, who went to Italy his junior year of college at University of Maryland. I was jealous, so jealous that I wanted to do something like that. But I didn’t want to wait for college, because it felt way too far away. I just kind of blew this thought off, thinking there was no way at all that I could study abroad in high school. I figured there was no way that a teenager would be able to study abroad. Then I went to camp for the summer, and one of my friends mentioned a school named Alexander Muss. Her cousin went to this school, and he fell in love with it.  Never hearing of the school, I wrote the name of it down to look at when I got home from camp at the end of the summer. And then I began my research. I googled and youtubed and searched on Facebook for information on Alexander Muss. I read all the pages and information I could find about Muss. By this point, I was so intrigued with this school. But there was no way that my mom and dad would let me go to Israel for two months by myself. They would think I was crazy, and would turn down my idea right away. Little did I know, they were so excited for me. They thought this would be an amazing opportunity for me, and we began the application process. Throughout the application process, I started to think about goals I could set for myself to overcome or achieve while I was away. One of my goals was to develop a greater appreciation for diversity and culture. I wanted to take in the Jewish culture and all the different kinds of Judaism all over Israel. Being here 7 weeks, I have definitely experienced the Jewish culture. All of having different lifestyles, different ways of life, but still all the same belief in one God. Israel is a home, not just for the Jewish citizens, but for all Jewish people. I have overachieved all goals set for myself, have met amazing friends, and created memories that will last a lifetime. I am so thankful I decided to come to study abroad.