One of the biggest reservations I'd had after learning I'd been accepted into the University of Pittsburgh's Semester at Sea program was the realization that I would be spending Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur away from my family for the first time in my life. I wouldn't hear the cantor's familiar High Holiday melodies or be with my loved ones for our family's legendary holiday meals. I didn't even know if I would be with other Jews at all; it was quite possible that I would mark the Jewish New Year in private, by myself.
All my friends and family said holiday homesickness wasn't reason enough to miss the opportunity of a lifetime. "Go," my mother said. "You'll find a way to make it meaningful." I didn't know how that could possibly be, but I sent in my deposit anyway, got all my shots and started packing....
