When I arrived in Israel I was pretty certain that I knew what my goals for the trip were. I wanted to connect with Judaism in a way that I can’t in Seattle and create meaningful memories. Although I am not even a week into the trip, I already know that my expectations will be far surpassed. 

I live in an area where the Jewish population is so incredibly low that many people have never even met a Jew. Because of this one of the main reasons I came to AMHSI was to connect with my Jewish culture. I have the rare opportunity to come and study in the Jewish holy land and I intend to take to take full advantage of it. My goal is not only to embrace and love the Jewishness that I am surrounded by, but also to question it. I want to figure out how I fit into the puzzle that is Judaism. How is my Judaism different than that of others, but still valid? I will do this by taking advantage of the resources around me. I want to soak up every bit of knowledge and discuss every single question that I can. 

Another goal of mine is to make memories that I would not be able to make anywhere else. Here at AMHSI, many of the people that I spend my time with do not live near me and have grown up in much different ways than me. Because of this, the experiences and the memories that I can make here are completely unique. I am also going places that I never could have even dreamed of. Even if it is just the convenience store down the street, I would never have known that we would create a tradition of waving and saying hello to the man who runs it. This small experiences, the ones that may not seem like much are the one I know that I will remember fondly. I want to make memories at all of the amazing sites that we will visit during our time here. I want to be able to tell my grand kids about my experience. A picture can only capture so much and my hope is that I can save so much more in my mind. One of the goals I have is to remember this trip forever.

Regardless of what my goals were when I first got here, I am completely certain on how I want my experience at AMHSI to be. And because of the people I have met and the places I have already gone, I know that they are completely achievable.