A Life Changing Year

At the beginning of grade 11, I decided my grade 12 year needed to be different. I’ve always loved learning but continuing this repetitive 9-4 pattern of classroom learning was going to crush my desire to discover more. This and the fact my current school was not at all preparing me for university is what drove me to apply for the MEI fall semester in Europe. I of course was a little nervous to be spending 70 days with complete strangers, but those feelings quickly dissipated and second I met my class, and my new family for the following weeks. Everyone on my trip came from various different lives but we all shared the common goal to learn and seek out everything this world has to offer. Your classmates start to feel like siblings as you learn to live with each other as well as work together on various different projects and presentations. I grew tremendously not only as a student but also as a person during my MEI semester. From being educated in the places where historical events occurred, conquering fears of public speaking and learning invaluable people skills, being able to go abroad with MEI is something I will always be grateful for. Not even halfway through the fall semester I signed up to continue with MEI for their spring semester, influenced by the above points, but overall by the connections and friends formed to last a lifetime.