DUSTIN: Final Thoughts

This trip has sadly come down to its final days. Looking back on the whole experience and everything that I had to do to get here, I would have to say it was worth every stressful day. When we first landed in Munich I was terrified, because I had never left the east coast of the United States. When we were going to German customs to get our passports stamped I had no clue what was going on. We filed into lines at the desks and got asked questions on why we were here; I panicked and froze for a second until I remembered why I was in Germany. When we got to Berlin finally we almost died, not really but I thought we were going to. We got on a bus, and headed to our hostel The Heart of Gold. I was in shock I had no clue what was going on everyone around me went from speaking English to speaking German.

Berlin was a lot to take in. My first experience in Germany was in its capital and one of its biggest cities. In the United States the biggest city I’ve been in was Boston. Berlin seemed much bigger. I didn’t sleep any on the plane, so when we got there I was extremely tired. I wanted to relax and go to sleep, but I’m glad I didn’t because I would have missed a lot of amazing things like the Victory Tower and the Brandenburg Gate. The trip to Berlin was a great way to start the trip.

When we got to Magdeburg I felt more at home than I did in Berlin. Magdeburg is more my speed, it’s not big and it’s not fast paced like Berlin. In Magdeburg I met everyone else that was studying with us. I am going to miss everyone on this trip. I may not every get to see some of them again like the friends that I made from Jordan, but I feel like I made lifelong friends. I was put out of my comfort zone a few times while I’ve been here because I am terrified of heights and it seems like everything worth seeing is very high up.

The class here had me nervous because I had no clue what to expect. As it turned out it wasn’t that bad after all. They teacher was nice and the material was explained well and if you were really lost in English. I was terrified because it takes me a second to straighten everything out in my head when someone talks to me in German, but I had no reason to be. Now the class is finished I am sad because that makes the end of this great journey aboard, which is one that I will never forget. I have heard it said that when you go aboard it’s a life changing experience, and it really is. It opens your eyes to everything around you. I will never forget my month in the country that I worked so hard to get to. It has truly been a dream come true for me, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group to spend it with.