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Now that I have returned home and have let it sink in for a few days, I feel like this experience was one of the best I have ever had. The highlight of this program for me was not necessarily one particular event, but it was more the entire experience. I feel like I was really able to be emerged in the German culture, as well as strongly build my German language abilities. My perception of the German culture has changed slightly, but not a large amount. I learned many small things about German culture, such as why they drink their beer at room temperature. This is because they believe that cold beer is bad for the stomach, as the human stomach is 98.6 degrees and the quick change of temperature is unhealthy. Also, many people have the perception that German people are a bit rude and unwelcoming. I found this to be very untrue. Everywhere I went people were welcoming and couldn't wait to introduce themselves to me, and were for the most part very helpful understanding I was not fluent in German, and they went out of their way to speak slowly.

The thing that has changed the most for me is that I recognize that people from everywhere have at least some things in common. I never realized an person from America and a person from Pakistan or Russia can have so many things in common. This is something that I found to be truly amazing, and it really restored some of my lost faith in humanity and our ability to find world agreements. This world will never be without war and controversy, but I realize that it is possible to become much closer to an impossible nirvana than we are today.