Taylor Trier
September 7, 2012
Period 4

In life, there are many things one has to experience to feel accomplished. There have been many meaningful events I have experienced in my lifetime; however there is one that particularly stands out to me that will surely affect my experience in college. This past summer, I spent a month in the Czech Republic on a mission trip with 7 people from my church. The Czech Republic is the number one most atheistic country in all of Europe and has one of the most difficult languages in the world, so our mission was to teach Czech youth how to speak conversational English correctly, as well as give them something to believe in and build relationships with them. As I was preparing for the trip, my expectations were very low and I almost talked myself out of going. I thought that being in a completely different environment would take me out of my comfort zone, especially because I was traveling to a place in which I knew nothing about their culture or language. Once we arrived, the organization we were working for had us train for the English camp we were going to be teaching at in Usti Nad Labem. There, we learned a little about Czech culture, and history. I was instantly shocked at how much the Czech Republic and Slovakia have been through in all of history. Being there, I also learned that Czech people are very different from Americans. The things they eat, what they wear, and even music they listen to is completely different than America. I was introduced to a whole