A more in depth version of my concerns going abroad

In all honesty, I am so excited for this year in Germany. I don’t think I’ve been so excited for anything else in my life... There’s the obvious Christmas, knowing you’re going to Disneyland, all that fun stuff. Just to inform you, Germany wins. But, because of the fact I am human, I also have a few concerns about this journey. Things in which I am extremely nervous about. I guess global student is somewhat forcing me to share them with you in a certain amount of deepness.

I am so scared to go to school in a different language. Just because of the fact school is already supposed to be a challenge to everyone, add a language you are not a master of on top of it…. It’s a bit hard to imagine. Along with the language, I believe it will be hard for me to communicate and get my thoughts out there to my host family and community. Not only that but being able to understand them. I know my host family speaks excellent English and my host sister is trying to learn English well but I really want to learn German. That’ll also be a challenge, to let them know: I only want to speak German (for learning sake) while I’m there. I want to be independent and show that I can get around…. And that I can learn as much German as I put my mind to it.

I also mentioned fitting in in the last post. I’ve lived in Provo for 15 years. Provo is 90 % Mormon. I’ve grown up around people with the same standards and same beliefs my whole life. My family attends church every week (only a 3 minute walk up the street) all my neighbors attend church weekly….. all my friends attend Seminary at school and Mutual every Wednesday. I’m not going to lie, I’m not going to miss it too much. There are so many diverse people with different religious views in this world and I can’t wait to hear them and learn from them. It’s just the fact that I’ve grown up in such a culture and I’ve adapted to it, I think it will be hard bonding with people of complete different backgrounds, I guess. That’s a concern… But, I’m so willing to get over it.

With all that being said, I think I can overcome these things or at least somewhat. A risk needs to be made once in a while and we can’t always be comfortable with everything in life. There are challenges to be met, races to be won, mountains to be climbed, and an exchange program to be conquered. Go get ‘em tiger.