Sunday, December 6, 2009

Adventure's End

Well, it's all over. I landed at Philadelphia International at 4:30 PM Thursday. Sorry it took so long to get this up (this has been something of a theme, hasn't it?), I've been pretty jet-lagged. It's still kind of hard to believe that the adventure's over. It still feels a little bit like I just landed in Salzburg yesterday.

Before I left, everyone who I told about the program said it would be the experience of a lifetime. I mostly just laughed and thought, "yeah, right." Well, to all those whom I gave that reaction to, I give you the satisfaction of knowing that you were right; it really was the experience of a lifetime. I am so glad I went on this program. It really was a unique opportunity, a real once-in-a-lifetime chance, and I am so happy that I jumped on it. If given the chance, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I was able to travel to places, see things that I'd only been able to read about or watch videos about. I was immersed in a culture (cultures, really), that were surprisingly similar to my own but at the same time so profoundly different. And best of all, I got to enjoy three months of really, really good food!

I learned so much, not only about other countries and cultures, but about myself as well. This was the longest I'd ever been away from home by far, and I learned that I can survive (quite well, as it turns out) away from my friends and family. Speaking of friends; I met people on this trip who will be friends for life. Sure, we got on each others nerves from time to time (okay, a lot), but we still forged friendships that we will hopefully take to the grave.

I'm still amazed at just how great our program was; we encountered more than a few American students who were on similar programs, only theirs were nowhere near as nice as ours; they had to stay in obscure towns and cities no one had ever heard of, live with host families who they sometimes didn't get along with, attend classes taught all in German at schools far away from their host homes, and if they were issued EuRail passes, their passes were only good for a week or ten days. Our classes were taught in English by American professors (or at least English-speaking; Dr. Guntzel is a German national) at the same place we were all staying, which was a famous city literally right smack-dab in the center of Europe, and our EuRails were good for a whole two months. I'm not bragging when I say that our program was the best option out there.

To everyone who was involved with this program, thank you. Thank you so very much. I had the time of my life, and I'm going to recommend this program to anyone who has even the slightest interest of going to Europe.

Peace,

-Raptor

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