It is unreal to think that my twin sister and I are leaving the country in less than a week!

I am so excited to be spending my fall semester of sophomore year in Israel! It is unreal to think that my twin sister and I are leaving the country in less than a week! I hope to make lifelong friends and have the chance to meet Jewish teens from across the world. This is important to me because there are not a lot of Jewish teens at my public high school, which means I have to actively seek out connections with other Jewish teens.

As an Impact Fellow, I also really look forward to developing and improving my leadership skills to take home and apply in my community and synagogue. Two examples that come to mind are becoming more educated about the current political climate and further developing my storytelling skills.

Throughout this trip, I hope to become more educated about the Israeli Palestine conflict so I can speak up when I inevitably hear anti-Israel conversations. Writing is not my strong suit, but by writing weekly blog posts and learning how to tell a story on social media, I hope to improve this skill. 

If I am being completely honest with myself, along with my great excitement, some things make me anxious. Going out of the country for the semester, I will have to learn to be much more independent. My parents will not be there to nag me about doing my homework, or to make sure that I am at my classes on time.

I am very excited to see how this program challenges me to be more independent and to grow in new ways. I look forward to making the most out of this amazing trip! Thank you again JNF for making this incredible opportunity a reality for me!