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. 

Some of the differences that I found between the two countries is the safety that I feel here. I’ve only been here for a month and it feels as if I have lived here my whole life. I feel almost as safe as I do back home as I do here. Living in America for my whole life and living here for only one month shows the security that I feel here. The security that I feel here makes me feel at home which is the goal of coming to Israel as a Jew, to feel at home in Israel.

Some of the physical and economic differences I have seen were the shops, types of roads, cars, and products that they have in Israel. When I first went to the stores in town, I expected something similar to America where they had set prices on everything and employees who hate their jobs. I found that at a lot of the stores you can bargain on things to get better deals and that the employees love their jobs and their customers. It is always great to go into town and somewhat socialize with the workers at the shops and food stands. For example, the guy who works at the smoothie place in town is very nice and friendly to our group and his name is Moshiko. We always go there and he is always happy to see us.

The culture is so much different here food wise and the way people act compared to America. The language is so much different because mostly everyone here speaks Hebrew while in America most people speak English. Most of the people here know a good amount of English though, so that is great. The food here is different because in America there are so many non-kosher and fast food restaurants, while Israel doesn’t have that many fast food restaurants and have kosher restaurants. Israel has a lot of food stands, such as falafel places and smoothie stands. It’s nice because they are like fast food but much better because you can see how and what they make the food with. It’s is just a completely different atmosphere when it comes to food in Israel. 

There are so many similarities also. Some of the similarities in Israel that I have recognized were that there are so many different people here. It seems as if Israel is a “Melting Pot” along with the United States. I can’t wait to experience the rest of the differences and similarities between these two wonderful countries.