Ende

So what can I say? Has this been an awesome experience that I'm finding very hard to explain to someone else the entirety of it? Absofriggenloutely!!! I can't even think of where to begin when someone asks me "How was it?" or "What did you do there?". I'm especially finding it hard to answer "What was your favorite part?". Can I say that this was a trip of a lifetime. Yes!! Hands down I can not even hesitate to answer that question. I have made a lot of new friends from other countries who I plan on visiting and seeing again. This has been such a worthwhile time that I can't even believe I did it all in one month. That is probably the most impressive part! The amount of time I did all of those things and the amount of knowledge I recieved about different cultures all within the timeframe of 30 days.

Well, now I'm back safe and sound. If there is one thing I can say that I did not enjoy it was the trip home and that was for one reason. Hurricane Irene. I was originally set to come home on Saturday, August 27th but apparently JFK had to close down and cause Swiss air to cancell my original flight. This caused the whole group I was with from Stony Brook to split up and go our seperate ways without any sense of one last good bye. I was very disapointed I could not get one group photo with them all in it. But nevertheless what happened happened and I can't do anything about it. At least we all had a great time together and that's what counts the most.

If there is any advice I can give to the future groups that will participate in this program it is this: Don't be afraid to try out your German. Don't hesitate to make foreign friends. Enjoy every moment of every day there because it goes by quicker than you think. And take some time to yourself while you are there and live the European life for one whole day all by yourself (It is worth every second).

Can I say I would do this whole trip again next summer? Eh.... probably not. Only because I don't think it will be the same to me. The only way I would do it again is if I have all fo the same people doing it and we had a little more time to get things done that we couldn't do. Not that I wouldn't go there again. But the time I had there in Konstanz is so special that it will be very hard to repeat such a thing all over again with different people. It would feel weird to me to be honest. Instead I will sevour the moment and live it in my memories. But I will tell you all this: I do plan on going back there sometime in my life to stay there for a year or two but not to study or work but to relax and live free (As in when I retire) lol.

So that's it I guess. Back to the old grind at Stony Brook dealing with classes and assignments. I will miss this whole thing very much. I enjoyed every second of it. One thing that I can guarantee you is that this program got me very interested in learning and improving my German. It is a very beautiful language and I hope to take some more classes in it.

Other than that I wish everyone of you future candidates of the program the best of luck and that you have the best time like I did. Perhaps even better! Enjoy!! It is a trip of a lifetime!