I am Jenna Brooks- a girl confined by her small town, but most definitely not defined by her small town. I live in Scituate, Massachusetts a beautiful coastal town with great people. I live a fortunate life surrounded by people I love, but one day I realized that wasn't enough for me. So, what did I decide to do? Follow my dreams. Plain and simple. I know that sounds all cheesy and cliche- but it's true. I've had one dream for basically my entire life and that was to live in Germany and immerse myself into an entirely new language and culture. Many people ask why I would ever want to the leave the comfort zone of my family, friends, my school, and my community to live in an entirely new environment? Truthfully, I can never answer it because there are an infinite amount of reasons why this will be the best experience of my life.
My experience with travel started at a very young age, sparking a life-long passion for exploring the world. When I was 4 years old, my parents were presented with the wonderful opportunity to bring my sister and me abroad to live in Hamburg, Germany for a year. Even though we were only kids, the experience changed both of our lives forever. In that year we gained an understanding of the world around us, exposure to a new language, an entirely new perspective on our lives, and learned how to deal with the constantly rainy weather of Northern Germany. I know these revelations may seem a bit advanced for a four year old, but there is no doubt in my mind that my intercultural passion is rooted in the experience I had abroad as a child. So basically, 4 year old Jenna left Germany speaking fluent Denglish (a mixture of German and English), with a passion in her heart for country she would not visit again until 11 years later.
After leaving Germany and moving back to the United States, my parents found it was important to continue to immerse my sister and me in the German culture and language. Luckily, they found the most magical place on Earth--CLV Waldsee in Bemidji, Minnesota. CLV is short for Concordia Language Villages, a place where children from around the world come to learn country specific culture and language. Waldsee was the German village where I went to as an 8 year old, and have continued to go to 7 summers later. Waldsee holds a dear place in my heart: it's a place where I learned language, culture, met my best friends, and where I gained my independence at a very young age. The people I have met there have inspired me to follow my dreams and take the chances I'd never dreamed of before. So I decided last year at camp, after talking to many people and hearing their experiences, that I was going to spend my junior year in Germany through an organization called AFS that sends students on programs overseas.
So that is where my story begins! I have a love for Germany, its beautiful language (yes it is very beautiful if you listen to it), and I am excited to meet many new people along the way! It's great to feel my dreams are finally coming true and I am so very excited to document my journey through this blog! There are going to be highs and lows of this year I spend abroad, but this is just the beginning and I know it will alter my life forever.
