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.

When we touched down in Israel it hit me that I was actually in the Holy Land. I originally thought that everyone else on the trip would not have the same feeling as I because some have been to Israel before, but they had the same reaction. We were so excited and shocked that we were in Israel. We couldn’t believe it. Being in Israel was one of my biggest dreams and it finally came true and I am very excited to be here.

Israel has already changed me and we are a week and a half in. I can feel the change occurring, but I do not know what has changed yet. I hope that Israel keeps changing me in positive ways and makes me a better person overall. 

When I found out my roommates, I was upset because we have five guys in one room. I thought that it was going to be extremely crammed and tight in the room. Surprisingly, we function very well together and have made very good friendships only a few days into the trip. Everyone is extremely nice and very fun to be around.

The schedule for school is great because we learn about the sites and history on Sunday, Monday, and sometimes Tuesday if we do not have a two day trip. We get to see the history come to life in person which really makes it easy to learn for me. Many of the tiyulim that we have been on were very exciting because I got to learn about the Jewish history in person, which helped me learn so much better. My other classes are great because it is almost always 1 on 1 teaching which puts the attention on me and I can learn so much better than in a class with 30 kids. I love the classes here and I love the people and I can’t wait to be here for two more months.

Some of the trips that we have been on were to Tel Gezer, Jerusalem, and places in Jerusalem. In Tel Gezer we saw archeology terms come to life such as strata. Strata are different layers in a tel that were civilizations on top of the other. We also got to see a baulk which is a wall that stands between two trenches. It was amazing to see these in real life. 

On Shabbat, I went to my closest friend’s grandmother’s house and it was very nice. We went to the beach and the mall and we saw the Israeli culture on Shabbat which was a sight to see. We saw a movie and had an amazing home cooked meal for Shabbat dinner. I enjoyed spending Shabbat with her and I hope that I can spend Shabbat with her again. I can’t wait to see the rest of the country’s culture on my next few weeks in Israel.