The Final Countdown

  There is so much that I have obtained from this trip and I know that I have grown and kind of changed a little in the month that I have been here. One of those things is me stepping out of my comfort zone and the knowladge I have gained that helps me view things differently. The information that was most meaningful to me after completing this study abroad program was just again the knowladge that I gained, as cliche as that sounds, but it is true. Before this trip, I couldn't even tell you where Austria or the Czech Republic was on a map. Now I can not only do that, but I could tell you the history behind some of the countries. Like for example the story of Empress Sissi. I was hoping at the beginning of this trip that I would gain a lot of knowladge about each country I visited and I did very much so. It's kind of nice to be able to not only be more culturally aware of differences between me and people from other countries, but also to know more about what kind of governemt they run and the history behind it all. I also thougt it was cool that as much as we were learning about other countries, people from other countries were learning about us. People from other countries were interested to know where we were from, what we liked to do for fun, what our carrer goals were etc. It was a two way street, we were teaching them, while they were teaching us. I hope that from the informantion I gained while on this trip helps me pay more attention to what is going on in other countries and not being so isolted in my bubble that is home. I also hope to share this knowladge with my friends and family when I get home and hopefully one day my kids will want to travel abroad and I can tell them to do it becuase I had the best experiece of my life here and I know they will too.