Hello, my name is Shlomie Assouline, and  I am extremely excited to be an Alexander Muss High School in Israel Impact fellow. For months I have been telling people that I will head to Israel to study abroad, receiving massive kudos and some disbelief. I have been buying and trying on clothes, packing for four months, trying to manage a social life, and keeping a day job as a counselor. But for what? What were the long nights, hard days, and bad headaches for? Before coming to Israel, I thought the answer was simple, another trip that everyone says “changed their lives”, to be honest, I was not impressed. I’ve felt that before, especially at the Southern NCSY Spring Regional 2019, but just a few days in, I feel like a new man. I have a ton of new friends already, and still making more every day, which is really important to me. I have had a very similar group of friends for years, all of my friends in elementary school, went to my middle, and then to my high school, I was never truly forced to forge a new group of friends. However, here at HSI, I was scared, 4 months with only a handful of acquaintances? A nightmare. Or at least that’s what I initially thought. My roommates are awesome and everyone is in a fairly good mood and reasonably easy to talk to. I could talk for days about the trip so far, but I’d like to round out this entry with Israel itself. Before coming, I had a close-minded view of Israel, I thought it was either the place where heaven meets earth in terms of spirituality or a hyper-modern society more in common with my hometown of Miami than the Middle East. But the truth is much simpler, it’s a diverse piece of land, Hod Hasharon, our home, is really just a small city with food stands, nice people, and pomegranate imagery. Thank you for listening.