Coming into Alexander Muss High School I had a lot of thoughts of what everything was going to be like. I go to Camp Louise during the summers, so a lot of my camp friends have been on this program before. Each of them would tell me about how Muss not only changed their lives, but made them more independent. I was so excited to experience everything they told me about when I arrived.

For some, making the decision to come to Israel was hard. How would they deal with missing school? Would they feel comfortable living in a place with a culture that is foreign to them? What would it be like to be so far away from home? Although these questions nipped at the back of my mind, when choosing whether I would come to Israel or not, I knew immediately what my answer would be.

Coming to Israel and completely immersing myself into a new culture and environment is something very scary, yet at the same time extremely special. I wanted to take on this challenge and leave my friends and family back in America for two months for many reasons.

I can’t believe I’m already writing another blog, this week has gone by so fast! In just the short time that I have been here I can already feel myself becoming more independent, and I know by the end of these two months I will grow into a much more mature and responsible person.

Coming to Israel has made me want to accomplish many goals in my life. I have always wanted to become a better Jew, become closer to the land of Israel, and find out who I truly am. Being a fellow will surely help me accomplish these goals in my life. Coming to Israel was truly a life changing decision and will be a once in a lifetime experience. Some challenges that I have faced was the school work. Sometimes it is a lot of work that I need to do in a short amount of time, but I always find a way to get it done.

Wow I cannot believe it’s been three weeks already everything’s gone by so fast. We went to Jerusalem for the third time and I fell even more love with the city. Going for Shabbat and seeing everything shut down was so insane and surreal especially at the western wall with hundreds of people coming to pray. It was a beautiful experience. As I look back on this past week I cannot believe that I hiked Masada, swam in the Dead Sea, and went celebrate Shabbat at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Americans and Israelis have different cultural norms. In America we tend to think bigger is better.

When I arrived at Ben Gurion airport I felt as if I hadn’t left the United States. It looked the same as the Unites States would have looked if we were in a different state like Florida or California. When we got off the airplane I started to realize the differences that Israel has compared to the United States. Some of these differences were noticeable and others were found by looking and learning about the history, culture, and basically everything about Israel. As the weeks passed, I found more and more similarities and differences between the two countries.

After my first month here, I am finally feeling a little bit like a true Israeli. I have now been all over the country and have stayed at two different Israeli households, one conservative and one orthodox. I have noticed so many differences between America and Israel, ranging from the food, language, weather, daily schedule, clothing, and overall mentality.

Now that I have been here in Israel for a month, I have come to realize that there are so many differences between Israel and America, some very small differences such as there are falafel stands all around the country, and some huge differences.

Before I left for Israel, my peers at school had many questions. “Are Israelis very different from Americans?” “What is the culture like there?” “Do you think you’ll fit in?” Since I have been here, I have discovered that there are indeed many differences between Israelis and Americans.

Coming to Israel I was expecting a huge culture shock but to my surprise it’s been a pretty easy transition. Don’t get me wrong there are some pretty big differences in the food, the language, the people but overall it’s not hard to get by.

This past month, living in Israel, has been an amazing and eye-opening experience. The best experience, in fact, that I have ever had. Israel and America could not be more different, and I am in love with this foreign and distinct culture, people, and food. My past trip to Israel had been one of a tourist, feeling like I was watching everything that was happening from the outside, now I feel like I’m truly experiencing Israel, living among Am Yisrael. Living in Israel has made me more independent, opened up my eyes to the contrast between America and Israel.

As I have settled into living in Israel, I have noticed that there were many differences from being back in America. Among the many differences I have noticed, the ones that stick out the most to me are the language, the food, the driving, and the weekends.

It’s 7:00 in the morning and I’ve been hiking up a mountain for about an hour. My breathing is heavy and my chest aches, I’m sweating through my clothes and my water is half full. The group pauses every so often to rest and drink, yet we cannot sit or our muscles will contract. We continue up until finally we hit the plateau of the mountain. All around us are settlements built from clay or stone.

I am in love with this country!! I’m still in awe over the fact that I get to learn about things and visit the exact places where history occurred. It’s incredible.

Even when we are not in class or on an official tiyul, we are always learning about the country. I am excited for this week, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us!

Alexander Muss is very different from my school at home in a variety of ways. The biggest difference between the two is the extreme amounts of travel we experience here in Israel. Instead of learning in a classroom everyday, we learn through nature and historic sights.

The best part about our core class is that we get to use Israel as our classroom. When I read the description of the class online, before I had come, I wasn’t looking forward to it that much because I don’t love learning about things that happened thousands of years ago. But after our first tiyul, I realized this class would be nothing like what I had expected.