As I sit alone in the Detroit airport tonight waiting for my connecting flight home, I reflect over the last six weeks of my travels and life in Europe. The trip flew by. I honestly feel like I was just arriving in the Berlin airport for the first time just a few days ago. The people were amazing, the food was “sehr lecker”, and the amount that I learned while there is still mind boggling to me. Professor Plaisier, and De Rooy, and Nielson did an excellent job of teaching the engineering class, but I learned just as much outside of class too. As a kid who grew up in a rural, midwestern town, it is pretty needless to say that at first, Berlin was a culture shock to me. It took me almost half of the time to get used to living in a city, let alone in a completely different country. I got lost on buses and trains probably way more often than I should have during those six weeks. However, by the last week, I was finally very comfortable with traveling. I decided to take solo trains to Paris and eventually Munich, something that was definitely out of my comfort zone. I had never traveled alone, but now that I have, I won’t be afraid to again in the future. This is only one example of countless other ways that I grew as a person during this trip.
Not only did I have an amazing time while I was there, this trip has also made me want to continue traveling as much as I can while I am young. I now understand that money can come around, but you can only experience certain things once in your life.
All in all, this trip was an amazing, life changing experience. The things that I was able to see, do, and learn will follow me for the rest of my life. I am excited to see where the Lord takes my travels next. I also am so thankful to my professors for putting on the program, the awesome friends I was able to make during my time there, and my parents for financially and emotionally supporting me throughout this journey. God is so good!!