Today. Today, in a couple of hours, I will scramble into the car with my overpacked luggage and enthusiastic smile. In a couple of hours I will be dropped off at the check-in counter, ready to depart from my family for a week, and on to my awaiting adventure. In a couple of hours, I will board the plane transferring me across the world, to Budapest, Hungary. As I ponder about this amazing experience lying ahead of me, I can’t help but wonder how this trip will affect me. How will I, along with the rest of the Beth Tfiloh students going on this trip, feel about this experience in a week, when we return? Will we feel we accomplished our goal? Will we feel differently about our Judaism? Will everything go as planned? Although slightly alarming, these uncertainties manage to make the trip more interesting and exciting. The fact that in a week, all these questions will be answered fascinates me.
I have been looking forward to this trip for so long. I cannot believe that the wait is almost over. I know the people I will meet are not exactly like me though. Unlike me, these kids at SSG were not raised in such a close Jewish community like Pikesville. The idea that many of them did not grow up lighting Shabbat candles or hearing about 
Bnei Yisroel’s journey through the desert is so odd to me. I cannot imagine living somewhere where these Jewish customs are so uncommon, and are subject to evoke antisemitism from other people. I hope that, by the end of this trip, I can provide these Hungarian kids with the amazing Jewish experiences I have been given since I was a child that they, unfortunately, couldn’t have.
The idea of returning to America from Hungary seems so far distant in the future to me. I can’t imagine the return trip from Hungary. By then, all questions will be answered. By then, our adventure will be coming to an end. Although this saddens me that this event lies only a week away, I plan to enjoy every moment of the trip. I plan to appreciate these unanswered questions while discovering their answers throughout the trip. I plan to take advantage of this amazing opportunity to bond with students from the other side of the world. I plan to expand my knowledge of Judaism throughout the world. All this lies ahead of me. Within the next week, these plans might succeed, or they may fail. They may change or remain the same. Either way, I am positive that whatever happens on this trip, I will gain something greater than my expectations. ~ Alma M.
