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Have you ever met someone who doesn't speak the same language as you? In my BBYO experience, I have been fortunate enough to meet plenty of people who are from different countries and do not speak my language. No matter what, I have been able to connect with them through one thing: a smile! At the 2023 International Convention, my friend and I met a girl from Lithuania who we instantly connected with but had a lack of dialogue with each other due to cultural differences. Instead of letting our differences come between us, we made the best out of our differences and taught each other new things. She taught us how to do dances from her culture and we taught her how to do dances from our culture while smiling and giggling the whole time. This is a core memory of mine because of the ecstatic happiness I felt. This interaction taught me no matter what language you speak or value you believe everyone is connected by a smile.

All views expressed on content written for The Shofar represent the opinions and thoughts of the individual authors. The author biography represents the author at the time in which they were in BBYO.

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