I am now almost two weeks into my Israel experience and I could not be having a better time.

I am now almost two weeks into my Israel experience and I could not be having a better time. I have awesome friends, great teachers, fabulous Madrichim, and I love my room and roommates. It really could not get any better. Now being almost three weeks into the experience I have noticed how Israel and the United States are different. The main thing that sticks out to me are the weekends. At home in the US the weekends are the times you would go out with your friends, go to restaurants to eat, go to the movies, and so much more. But in Israel that isn't the case. Over the weekends it is Shabbat. Here in Israel when it is Shabbat everything stops, people stop working and everything is closed. It almost seems like time stops over the weekends in Israel. It is just a time to rest, a time to clear your head. Not a time think or worry about your problems or the stressful week ahead, it is a time to relax. Also, here in Israel there are shops, not really any stores like you would see in the United States. On the streets here in Hod Hasharon almost everything is small businesses. The grocery stores, the shoe stores, convenience stores, everything is locally owned. As to the United States, everything is big companies, there aren't many popular small businesses. Because of this I am able to try all kinds of new things that I had never tried before. Nothing like the big chain companies at home have to offer.

Another thing that makes Israel different from the United States are the meals. The set up here in Israel is completely different than in the United States. In Israel, lunch is the biggest/most important meal of the day. Here at AMHSI lunch has all of the nutritional values that you need for the entire day. It typically includes something that has a lot of protein. Lunch is when you would really go out to eat or sit down to eat by far the best meal in Israel. As in the US dinner is that meal. Dinner is when people would go out and eat their big meal for the day. The final reason that I have how Israel is different from the United States is the politics. Learning in my Israel studies class, the Israeli government runs a little different than the United States. In Israel anyone can challenge the prime minister at any time. There aren't set term lengths or election days like there are in the US. It is also different because in Israel there are like ninety different political parties, and all of them, if they get enough votes can represents in the government. As opposed to the US, there are only two main political parties.