It is currently my last week in Natick. While it is scary to think that I am leaving my home for four months, the excitement of the journey to come is far greater than any fear I have.

As summer comes to a close and the school year approaches, I have to start preparing for my journey ahead. Just thinking about what I’m going to do without my family for four months is still tough to believe and hard to get my head around. I have never been to Israel so going will hopefully be the first of many other trips to Israel. I’m usually ok with leaving my family so I don’t think I’ll miss them but I am definitely nervous about the things that are unknown to me. Like, how hot is it in Israel? Is Hod HaSharon a big city? Or small like my hometown of Maynard. Do people speak English? Did I pack everything I need?

I cannot believe that I am only 4 days away from going to Israel. I feel so fortunate to have been chosen to go on such a life changing trip. I am so grateful to AMHSI and the Jewish National Fund for sponsoring this program and giving me this enormous opportunity to become a leader and an advocate for Israel. I have so many feelings and emotions about going to a foreign country that I have never been to for 4 and a half months.

It’s not easy to drop your school, your sports, your friends, your home life, and your comfort zone for 18 weeks. I don’t know what my friend dynamic will be when I get home, I don’t know if my coach will bench me because I’ve been gone, and I don’t know who I will be when I return. I’m putting my faith into AMHSI and JNF for the next 18 weeks. So many aspects of my life are going to be out of my control so soon, and it’s so scary to leave my home life and make that leap, but I’ve also been blessed to even have the opportunity to take this leap.

It’s almost been one week in Israel. Already, I have made amazing friendships, and had experiences I will never forget. While looking back at the amazing journey that I have had is great, this early in the trip, it is more important to look forward. What are my goals for this upcoming trip? Who will I become? How will my life be different once I return home?

Just being here for less than a week has already affected me so much. I still have 4 more months here, and I’m already thinking about when I can leave home again and come back to Israel (Sorry parents!). Tonight is our first Shabbat here, and I’m excited to experience it with my new friends. I’m so excited for these next four months.

My first week in Israel has been 7 days of emotion and excitement. I have had a great time meeting new people and exploring the town of Hod HaSharon.

Israel. America. They both have such strong ties to each other, yet both are thousands of miles apart from the other. Growing up in Boston, and now living in America puts the way I love my daily life into perspective.

Although Israel is very different from America, most of these differences are good. They add to the awesome culture here that I am falling in love with.

When I walk down the street in Boston, I am left to myself. I can do as I please, and mind my own business. If I were to talk to someone, I would be judged immensely. Back in America, people keep to themselves. But as I walk down the streets of Hod HaSharon, or along the beaches of Tel Aviv and Haifa, I am stopped constantly.

If this trip could teach me one thing it would definitely be how different American and Israeli culture is.

Wake up, skip breakfast, go to school, switch between sitting in one classroom to another classroom, take a 20 minute lunch break, sit in some more classrooms, wait eagerly for the bell, go to sports practice, go home, have dinner, go to bed (Repeat x5 per week for 10 months). This is my monotonous schedule back home.

This time last year, I never thought that I would be exploring the land of Israel during a normal school day. I never thought that I would be traveling to a new city almost every day. A year ago, this was only a dream.

Being in Israel for a little over a month now has been an incredible experience. I have made so many friends, and gone to very cool and fun places. But, I have also learned in one of the coolest ways I think there is.

When we go on our tiyuls it is always fun and I enjoy them a lot, just the thought of learning outside can be a weird thing to do. At my school we sit in the same seats everyday and listen to the teachers babble on. But when we go on our tiyuls I get a whole new way of learning.

Being only 12 days away from the halfway point in this trip, I have already had the time of my life. I feel as though I am already close enough to the boys to call them my brothers, and to officially refer to AMHSI as “home”.

I cannot believe that I’m almost halfway through this program. Time goes by so fast here! Every single day is something new, I never know what the next day is going to bring.

Living in Israel is such a different experience from living in America, it’s hard to go into it without any advice or guidance. The main thing that differs from being a student in Israel to being a student in America is the tiyulim. Going on a tiyul can be a hard experience, but it is always rewarding in the end. They tend to be long, hot, dry, and you never get enough sleep the night before. But after living here and experiencing these tiyulim for almost two months, I definitely have picked up a few tricks.

Israel has some very special moments but the only one that really feels like won’t happen in America is the yeshiva during Simchat Torah.