Israel!!
So apparently I'm still jetlagged, as I woke up at 6 this morning, wide awake. This is not something I would normally do, as you all well know. But my body is being retarded and thinks that its 1pm instead of 6am. *sigh*
I'm sure everyone wants to hear all about Israel but I don't even know where to begin. I have to say it was the most amazing experience of my life, and that is not an overstatement. I spent a good portion of the trip in awe, for example "OHMIGOD I'M AT THE DEAD SEAD!!" "OHMIGOD I'M ON A CAMEL!" or "OHMIGOD I'M AT THE WESTERN WALL!" Yeah, lots of exclamation points. I've never felt such a connection with a place and I definitely fell in love. The first thing I told my parents is that I want to live there and they didn't believe me! But they don't understand, and you can't, until you've seen it with your own eyes. I've spent my whole life hearing about the places I visited and none of it was real to me. Israel was nothing more than a mythical place to me until I was on the plane, tired, sick, wanting to go, and then getting my first glimpse of the Mediterranean coast and Tel Aviv. I spent the first couple of days with a fever, but it didn't matter because I was home in Israel. When we left 10 days later, I was a different person. I watched Israel fall away from sight of the plane much too quickly and I cried when I couldn't see it anymore.
Besides just touring the sites, we had 8 Israeli soldiers traveling with us for part of the week. That was one of the best parts of the trip for me. It was awesome to be able to find out so much about Israel from people who know it so well. Its one thing to get a tour, its a completely different thing to discuss cultural differences with soldiers that are your age. I think Israel has really got the right idea with the mandatory army service at 18. Our Israeli counterparts were much more mature than the average college student; wouldn't you be if you went through boot camp and was sent in to fight in Lebanon at age 18? If I fuck up school, I'm totally moving to Israel and joining the IDF!
I didn't think I would miss Israel or the soldiers quite as much as I am. I even put off writing this entry because of how upset I'm getting just thinking about the trip. I can't even describe how different I felt during the whole trip. I was a sponge just soaking in the culture. Its the best feeling the world to be in a country where everyone understands exactly what you're going through and you are united in a cause, to protect Israel from her many enemies. And now I'm back in the US, but my mind is still in Israel. Every time I wake up during the night, I feel like I'm back there and its a challenge to drag my mind back to Orlando. Its like my mind is resisting what my body is telling it. I think I was literally high on life for 2 weeks and my mind is having withdrawal!
I know, I know, you want details; where did we go, what did we see? I'll be putting my pics on Facebook today or tomorrow and that should answer most questions. We saw the main sites, Tel Aviv, the Old City, Western Wall, Jerusalem, Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights, Mt. Masada and spent the night in a Bedouin encampment. I spent most of my time with Jessie, my roommate for the trip, and one of the soldiers, Etay. Btw, Jessie happens to be in the HOT and plays the French horn with Lydia. Yes, the Homecoming Queen was on the trip. Yes, she was as ditzy and blonde as expected. I spent the week avoiding her and the other sorority girls lol.
In the next entry, I think I'll share some of the more interesting stories about the trip. For now, this is all I can write down without booking a one way plane ticket back to Israel immediately. :(
I'm sure everyone wants to hear all about Israel but I don't even know where to begin. I have to say it was the most amazing experience of my life, and that is not an overstatement. I spent a good portion of the trip in awe, for example "OHMIGOD I'M AT THE DEAD SEAD!!" "OHMIGOD I'M ON A CAMEL!" or "OHMIGOD I'M AT THE WESTERN WALL!" Yeah, lots of exclamation points. I've never felt such a connection with a place and I definitely fell in love. The first thing I told my parents is that I want to live there and they didn't believe me! But they don't understand, and you can't, until you've seen it with your own eyes. I've spent my whole life hearing about the places I visited and none of it was real to me. Israel was nothing more than a mythical place to me until I was on the plane, tired, sick, wanting to go, and then getting my first glimpse of the Mediterranean coast and Tel Aviv. I spent the first couple of days with a fever, but it didn't matter because I was home in Israel. When we left 10 days later, I was a different person. I watched Israel fall away from sight of the plane much too quickly and I cried when I couldn't see it anymore.
Besides just touring the sites, we had 8 Israeli soldiers traveling with us for part of the week. That was one of the best parts of the trip for me. It was awesome to be able to find out so much about Israel from people who know it so well. Its one thing to get a tour, its a completely different thing to discuss cultural differences with soldiers that are your age. I think Israel has really got the right idea with the mandatory army service at 18. Our Israeli counterparts were much more mature than the average college student; wouldn't you be if you went through boot camp and was sent in to fight in Lebanon at age 18? If I fuck up school, I'm totally moving to Israel and joining the IDF!
I didn't think I would miss Israel or the soldiers quite as much as I am. I even put off writing this entry because of how upset I'm getting just thinking about the trip. I can't even describe how different I felt during the whole trip. I was a sponge just soaking in the culture. Its the best feeling the world to be in a country where everyone understands exactly what you're going through and you are united in a cause, to protect Israel from her many enemies. And now I'm back in the US, but my mind is still in Israel. Every time I wake up during the night, I feel like I'm back there and its a challenge to drag my mind back to Orlando. Its like my mind is resisting what my body is telling it. I think I was literally high on life for 2 weeks and my mind is having withdrawal!
I know, I know, you want details; where did we go, what did we see? I'll be putting my pics on Facebook today or tomorrow and that should answer most questions. We saw the main sites, Tel Aviv, the Old City, Western Wall, Jerusalem, Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights, Mt. Masada and spent the night in a Bedouin encampment. I spent most of my time with Jessie, my roommate for the trip, and one of the soldiers, Etay. Btw, Jessie happens to be in the HOT and plays the French horn with Lydia. Yes, the Homecoming Queen was on the trip. Yes, she was as ditzy and blonde as expected. I spent the week avoiding her and the other sorority girls lol.
In the next entry, I think I'll share some of the more interesting stories about the trip. For now, this is all I can write down without booking a one way plane ticket back to Israel immediately. :(