Israel and how I've changed

My Jewish identity has always been a huge part of my life but now that I have been on EIE I can truly say that it has evolved into something else, something more personal. In my Jewish History class I was able to enrich my knowledge about my past. Learning about the past and present of my people have truly given me and new understanding of what it means to be Jewish. Not only that but learning Hebrew has given  me a new level of understanding because being able to speak with Israelis makes it that much more meaningful. Now at first this wasn’t easy for me but being in Israel for four months made the Hebrew learning process that much easier. Also being able to live here for four months made it feel like I completed my journey to at least spend some time in Israel. After being here I now believe a Jewish person should experience this place atleast once in their life. Without coming here and learning about the past you can’t really understand the importance of why Israel needs to exist. After everything we’ve been through, all the struggles, we deserve to have this place to call our home. 

When I look at myself now I see a proud American Jew. From this trip I have gain confidence not only in my Jewish identity but myself too. With all of the experiences I have a had through this trip I have learned to be more comfortable with myself. For example during Gadna I realized that it didn't matter what I looked like. Even though my clothes looked ridiculous I started to just focus on other things and forget about what I felt like. I think this idea of focusing on other things have translated into other aspects of my life. I realized that problems I have don't matter because I can't change them and that I should just be happy with myself. Thank you EIE for giving me the strength to be a little bit more comfortable with myself.