Israel is a truly beautiful and special country, but your experience will be what you make it. Upon arriving in Israel, you will definitely notice some clear differences between Israel and America. One of those is the history that Israel holds. Everywhere in the country there are sites of historical value. This can range from underground water tunnels to castles where the crusaders once fired at their enemies down below. Some of these historical sites are thousands of years old, and there are few if any sites of that age in America. To those of you who are history nerds like myself, the fact that there is history everywhere you go will make your trip to Israel that much more interesting and exciting. To those of you who find history boring, I encourage you to give it a chance. Your Israeli history class at AMHSI is not your typical history class. You get to actually visit the sites in real life, and if you let yourself enjoy it, each site you visit will provide you with a really unique experience. The way Doni and Aubrey (the Israeli studies teachers) discuss the material is very interactive and interesting, and if you allow yourself to get into it you won’t be bored. Who knows, you might come home being more interested in history than you ever thought you could ever be.

I’ll be honest, alongside the history comes a lot of hiking. Much of Israel is mountainous terrain, so often to access some of these sites hiking is necessary. Mountains provided a natural barrier against invaders, so the remains of many ancient cities lay atop mountains. Although I am a native of Florida, I have always had a natural attraction to mountains and hiking. So just as I did history, I encourage you to give hiking a try and look upon it with a positive attitude. It is excellent exercise, the views are beautiful, and it is a fun activity to do with friends.

Lastly, I encourage you all to go to Israel with an open mind regarding politics. Israel’s politics are quite unstable, to say the least, and people tend to be very opinionated. Often these opinions can be extreme among both Israelis and Americans. I’m sure many of you have heard people’s political opinions in America and may have formulated your own, but the way you view politics while in Israel may sway your opinion, and I can say it has personally affected my own. In general, if you come to Israel with an open mind, I’m sure you’ll find your existing opinions may change, hopefully viewing new and different experiences in a more positive light.