Heather Maron -- Poland (PLSD)

For five weeks I kept saying to myself, " You're 16, you're in Europe, and its amazing." It wasn't a pep talk, it was the truth. It took my until the plane ride home to really believe what had just happened to me. I will forever be thankful for the amazing opportunity that I received this summer. In short, those five short weeks in Poland were the best weeks of my summer, of any summer and definitely of my life.

My homestay family became my family, just yesterday I emailed my sister and tomorrow I plan on writing my host parents in addition to the aunt and grandmother that so generously hosted me for periods of time. I finally got my pictures back and I relish the ones of them as I can feel the moment that was forever captured. When we boarded the train that would take us farther from Torun towards Krakow I cried and my host mother told me to make a wish on every tear. I can still see her miming the actions as I tried so desperately to hold off the waterworks.

In Krakow we were given free time where a few of the other group members and I decided we would like to discover the Jewish quarter before we went with the group. After all the walking, bonding, talking, discovering we felt so undeniably alive. Here we were, traipsing along cobblestone streets in Europe where so much of our personal history took place. We didn't let the disappointment of closed gates outside a synagogue hinder our spirits as we, both Jewish and non, sang on that very sidewalk. Having a good number of Jewish people also made the trip to Auschwitz especially poignant. There are no words to describe the terrible turmoil that builds up inside oneself at the site of such a disturbing piece of history. As I've said a million times, its definitely a place where you're thankful that you're with a group of very close friends. As our leader, Hubert, said it, it's a place where you should visit when you're ready, but how can you ever be ready to witness such a thing?

Hubert was most certainly one of the reasons our trip was amazing. As a leader he did everything perfectly and I can honestly say I miss his constant entertainment. He handled every rough patch in our group dynamics with such professionalism and always knew what was appropriate and what wasn't. He allowed us to explore ourselves personally while constantly forging new friendships and for that I am forever thankful.

I'm not quite sure what else to write, how do you put the best feelings you've ever felt into words? Every moment was worth savoring and there was never a time when I regretted my choices. Everywhere I went I felt like I could and had lived there forever, leaving was the hardest time.