Time to gather my thoughts

Well after FINALLY being done with the "serious" tests for a while, even though I have a physics exam tomorrow I can at last sit down and share my thoughts on how the study abroad impacted my life.
Initially I was more than ready to go, but I was extremely nervous because I had never really traveled on my own before, not to mention by airplane. That was the first barrier for me to overcome, though my flight went over fine and I had no problems with it. I've been riding theme park rides since I was about 4 so nothing can really phase me in that aspect anymore. Luckily I had Heather there so I at least had one other person to talk to and feel more at ease with. I really didnt have any idea what to do in the airport so she helped out a lot. Once we finally reached Germany I was greeted by my host sister, who was as nice as can be to me and treated me like one of the family. I had a variety of expectations for this trip and it definitely surpassed each and every one of them in more ways than one. It definitely opened my eyes as to just how "in the dark" the majority of Americans are to world events, and especially about language. I met multiple people who could speak 3 or more languages and I was stuck there saying "Well I know a few phrases in Czech." It really made me want to go out and start learning more, and I've even gotten my grandmother to try to teach me more Czechoslovakian, though it is not necessarily the easiest language to catch onto. There are two things that had the biggest impact on me. The first is whenever we were going around on all of our various tours and trips, I got to actually see and stand right where so many important events of the past had occurred; ranging from standing on the spot where Hitler gave his speeches at the Zeppelin field, to the Berlin Wall, and the world famous Louvre museum. Whenever you read about things in history books you just kind of let it go in one ear and out the other and think, "Oh it's just some dumb facts about some place that doesn't really affect me," but when you actually are at the precise places where these things happen and hear from people who lived through them it really leaves an impression in your mind which will stay with me for the rest of my life. The second thing is that I learned throughout the trip that I can let boundaries down and allow myself to be fully submersed into a culture totally unknown to me and get along fine, as well as to not feel that I ALWAYS have to be the ultimate responsible adult watching after everyone else. (Thanks Shannon and Erik) I never really let myself have too much fun before, because I felt like I had an underlying responsibility for everyone else in my group so I couldn't just let loose and totally relax, but now I know otherwise.
In all my time in Duesseldorf is an experience I never thought I would get to enjoy and will NEVER be forgotten. This trip has strengthened my determination to follow my dream of going to vet school as well as made me a stronger person overall and it will influence how I go about things for the rest of my life