Being in Israel makes me smile, but living in Israel allows the mood in the air to make me so happy. No matter what I could be upset about, when I think about being in Israel, every negative emotion floats away. I have never been happier in my entire life, but being in Israel brings out the best qualities in me.

My life in Israel is so different than my life at home. Although here at AMHSI we have school, it is very different than normal school at Pennsbury. Here, we usually have 3-4 days of school a week, and when I say school, I mean General Studies classes. For me, I had AP Psychology and Pre Calculus. It seems like that isn’t enough school, and you won’t finish the course, but you have class for a long time, so it makes up for missed times. They will also add on hours to make sure you finish all the material at the end of the session. The other days of the week, we go on Tiyuls which are field trips around the country learning about its history. Another big change is that we have school on Sunday and a half day on Friday. So we only have a day and a half weekend. It was weird at first, but I adjusted very quickly to the schedule. All in all, you will have learned so much by the end of the session with all your General Studies and CORE class. School is hard here, not going to lie, because you have to manage your time and there is nobody telling you when to do your work. You are very busy because of being off campus a bunch and balancing CORE tests with Gen Studies’ tests. This program teaches you about responsibility because you are completely independent with managing money, your time, and keeping your room clean.

A big part of our program is the amazing location because you can walk into the town of Hod Hasharon within five minutes. It is a tradition to go to our lovely smoothie stand called Moshikos. I love their acai bowls, but they also have amazing smoothies. Also in town, there are many falafel, shawarma, and schnitzel places to eat. If you are craving some nice homey foods, there are pizza, hamburger, and salad restaurants. We also go food shopping at our local supermarket and get pastries at the bakery. Our town is so cute, and I love going out for dinner or lunch sometimes. Honestly, the majority of my money has been spent on food in this town. There is also a couple clothing shops and a mall like 20 mins away, but I haven’t gone shopping for clothes yet.

Also, everyone here speaks Hebrew, so we all try to learn. In the other groups like Milken and Semester, a lot of them speak Hebrew already which motivates us to learn. We have learned the simple sentences to say like “where is the bathroom” and “please & thank you.” I would totally recommend to anyone else going to AMHSI in the future to try to learn Hebrew as much as you can. I listen to my cousins, counselors, and local Israelis speak Hebrew which has advanced my understanding of the language, but I definitely want to learn and become fluent. It is such a cool language, and I already know how to read the letters from when I learned in Hebrew School.

As I said before, living in Israel for two months is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. I am so happy here and am looking forward to coming back as soon as possible. Each time I come, I think that it’s just the people who make my trips here so amazing, but it’s this breathtaking country. Every day, I discover something new about Israel. I hope one day I will be able to move here and make aliyah!