T-20 hours

It’s a bit daunting and exciting to realize that in less than 24 hours I will have boarded my plane to Germany and will be en route to Frankfurt. As I sit here writing this post, it still does not feel very real. It kind of feels like I am about to go on a quick vacation to Europe. While I am filled with both excitement and nerves, there are many things that I am looking forward to. From a young age, I have been very interested in medicine and learning more about it. As I have gotten older, I have had many incredible opportunities to further my education and pursue PA school. I am so thankful for this program because I know it will help me learn more about the advancement of medicine in different countries, as well as help me pursue my dreams of PA school. As great as I know this trip will be, my anxiety about leaving is still high. I have never been this far away from home by myself before and facing the unknown is frightening. While it is frightening to live in a different country for 4 months, I am very excited to see how much I am going to grow as a person over this next semester. Not only will I get to learn about medicine, but also about the culture and history of Germany. Getting to live in the city of Bonn with a German family for 4 months is a fantastic way to become immersed in German culture. I cannot wait to see how much I learn over the next 4 months and curious to see how I feel after living there. I am also really looking forward to studying abroad with this group of students and cannot wait to make new friendships and go through this experience with everyone on the trip. 

Another reason I wanted to study abroad, especially in Germany, was to learn more about my heritage. My mother’s father grew up in Neumarkt and was a Jew living there during Nazi Germany. I never had the chance to meet my grandfather but have since learned more about him and his upbringing through my mother and uncle. Since I never had the opportunity to meet him, I have always wanted to go back to Germany to learn more about the environment he grew up in and possibly visit where he lived. These next 4 months will provide me the opportunity to learn not only about the history of Germany and its people, but also about my family and where I have come from. 

While I have a few more hours in America and am sad to leave my friends and family, I am excited for the opportunity to be in Bonn very soon. I am thankful for this program, the friendships I will make, and for everything I am about to learn about medicine, Europe, myself, and my family.