Living the Life

Emma Daniels
Tufts University A15

So far Israel has been FANTASTIC. We all met each other at Newark, went through some “rules of the road” together, told each other our names, and then boarded our plane.  There unfortunately was a delay in our take off, but we did take off eventually and we arrived safely in Tel Aviv.  As our bus started to drive away from Ben Gurion Airport, I was confronted with a beautiful view of Israel.   The scenery is gorgeous! There are spots where everything is lush and green and thick and there are also places where sparse desert stretches out for miles.  It’s pretty breathtaking.

The first day we drove to the Golan Heights and moved into our rooms at the Kibbutz Afik.  We had Shabbat services that night which were really great.  I did the “casual with lots of singing” service option which was fun!  It was interesting to hear the different tunes for the prayers and songs that we had each grown up with.  

The second day we had a short morning hike of the area around our Kibbutz and it was exhilarating.  In the afternoon we had a couple hours of free time and I think our entire group spent their time at the Kibbutz’s pool.  We laid in the sun (with LOTS of sunscreen!) and swam around in the beautiful pool.  It was bliss.  That evening we had a Havdallah service which was pretty beautiful.  This was my first Havdallah in a long, long time and it was great to refresh my memory on the prayers and practices.  Afterwards, we all had dinner at the Tiberias promenade with a gorgeous view of the water.  I believe there was also a water show although I unfortunately did not get to see it.

Today we did a very intense hike  in the Jilaboon--accent on the VERY INTENSE. We hiked down a mountain to the bottom of a waterfall.  It was also gorgeous (like everything in Israel).  At the waterfall we all jumped in the water and some of us even were daring enough to jump off some rocks through the waterfall into the water below it.  THAT was awesome.  After we hiked back up they took us to a place to get lunch.  I ate some Shwarma that was absolutely delicious.  In the afternoon  we went to Mitzpe Gadot where we were able to look over the entire Jordan Valley and see the border between Israel and Syria.  We heard some really cool information about the Yom Kippur War that was fought there.  We also visited the Kinneret graveyard to see the graves of some Israelis with some interesting stories.  One of them was the famous Israeli poet Rachel.  Tonight we had dinner at the Kibbutz and some group activities afterwards.

So far this trip has been unbelievable.  The country is the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen and the participants of our group are all so great and so fun to get to know, especially the Israelis!  It’s been so cool to hear about their daily lives as Israeli soldiers and also what they like to do for fun, their families, and their views about their country.  The trip is jam-packed with fantastic activities, each one seeming to be more fun than the next.  I am living the life.


We will post again soon!

Bus SH-26-123