“It is crazy to think that in two weeks, I will be waking up in Israel. It still feels unreal, but I am beyond excited. This summer, I traveled to Israel for the very first time, and I fell in love with the country. I will never forget the exact moment that Israel won my heart.

Anxious. The only word I can use is anxious. As I prepare for my February 8 week trip to Israel, I am not exactly sure what to expect.

As I begin to prepare for my trip to Israel, I am growing increasingly excited. I have very high expectations for my time in Israel, and I am hoping this trip will exceed them all. I am looking forward to all of the tiyulim because I love being able to see the things I have learned about in school firsthand. Additionally, I’m looking forward to meeting new people that share the same common interests as me. I also hope that this trip will allow me to form closer ties with Judaism and help me form stronger connections with my Israeli family.

Alexander Muss has been a dream of mine for a very long time. I have always seen tons of pictures on Instagram and Facebook of students just like me, hiking up Masada, floating in the Dead Sea, and visiting the Western Wall. Therefore, when I heard about the Philadelphia Impact Fellowship, I knew it was meant to be.

Honestly, the anticipation is killing me. As I sit here trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m leaving my home and all I know behind for two whole months it’s hard to picture. I’ve traveled by myself to other countries before but something about this specific trip is different.

I honestly cannot believe that in just 10 days I will be leaving my friends and family at home, and traveling to Israel.

I have never thought that I would be going to Israel in my life, let alone at only 15 years old. When I was preparing for the interview and writing my essays, I was so nervous and worried that I would not have been good enough to get into Alexander Muss High School. When I received the call that I was accepted, I did not believe any of it. I still cannot believe that I am going to Israel in 9 days.

I’ve never been to Israel before. Or anywhere else in the Middle East. Or the eastern hemisphere.

As I made my arrival to Alexander Muss campus, the bus ride was mostly quiet. Meeting the Madricha for the first time, just learning their first names. The small talk about the plane ride, how we were ready for dinner. Little did I know that the Machrachim and the students on this trip would become people who mean so much me all in such short time.

Alexander Muss has been more than I ever thought it would be and I have only been here for two weeks. The first day we got to Alexander Muss, I felt beyond welcomed and I knew this trip was going to be something special. The campus is beautiful and very lively. When students aren’t on trips or in class, many kids will be outside enjoying the beautiful weather Israel has to offer. Alexander Muss is so different from school at home and I think thats what makes learning so fun here.

The 11 hour flight felt as if it were 11 days. I was so anxious to arrive in Israel that I could barely sleep even when I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I didn’t really feel the impact of Israel until a few hours into the flight and the Orthodox Jews had woken up to pray and one of them asked if I wanted to pray with them. I said, “Yes of course!” This was just the beginning.

I am so grateful to be here, and to be travelling my favorite country with such wonderful new people. I already feel at home on campus, and in my dorm. It is so exciting to wake up in my favorite country every day, and I can’t wait for the next two months.

I have now been in Israel for just over a week but I already feel so comfortable and settled in. I love all of the people on my trip and we have already become so close.

It’s one thing to learn about history it’s another to experience the history your learning about in person. After first tiyul and getting to know my roommates I have had the best time. Exploring everything is so incredible and being away from home is so amazing. My favorite thing to do is to go into town with all my friends and get falafel and I’m a picky eater so for me to be trying so many new foods and liking it is a big deal.

We learned about a hero. He went to Alexander Muss, he studied the same things that I’m studying now, he sat in the same classroom as me. He had the same teacher who told him the same story about Ezekial the prophet and Galut Bavel, the exile to Babylon.

It has now been over a week since I arrived at Alexander Muss High School in Israel, but it feels a lot longer. In such a short time, I feel at home here, and have made so many friends. The first couple days, I got to know my roommates, teachers, and Hod Hasharon.

Going from a land of cheesesteaks and hoagies to a land of falafel and Moshiko’s smoothies, I thought that I would have a harder time adjusting, but on our first Shabbat when I walked in the warm air to the dining hall, I was comforted by the sweet aromas of chicken soup, sweet potatoes, and couscous.

I’m walking through the streets of Jerusalem and come across an old man; he’s homeless and begging for money. I’m back on a family vacation to New York, where another old man shakes a can, hoping someone has enough kindness in their heart to give him something. In both instances, I look away. That’s what I was taught to do. And then I leave.

This week was jam packed, with tiyulim to Jerusalem and the Negev.

When I was still in America and was accepted into AMHSI, I started to think about goals I could set for myself to accomplish while I was away. I worried my goals were set too high and I wouldn’t reach them, or they were too low and I would underestimate my self. I struggled with setting reasonable goals for myself. I struggled with school goals, personal goals, and physical goals, as I got myself adjusted to the campus life here, I started to rethink my goals.