There’s No Place Like Home

This experience has made me more grateful to live and have grown up in the United States more than I expected it to. I didn’t really think about it until my drive home from Dulles International Airport where my Mom picked me up and I told her all about my trip. I was explaining to her how we endured a heat wave in Germany with no air conditioning and how I met other students from 14 different countries. To start, I will never take air conditioning for granted again and could not be happier to be sitting in my room with the thermostat set to 66 degrees. But what struck a very meaningful conversation with my mom is when I said 14 different and countries she asked where and I named a couple like Egypt, Yemen, Afghanistan, Russia, and Armenia. She seemed surprised and we went into a conversation about how a lot of those countries are extremely hostile, women have no rights, and most people grow up in poverty. While I obviously knew that about those countries it never really hit me how lucky and fortunate I am to have grown up in the United States where our country is civil, women do have rights, and the poverty levels are not nearly as high compared to those other countries.  Overall, this experience has made me extremely grateful and has opened my eyes to so many more perspectives.