By Eliana Goldwasser
The first morning I woke up in Israel, it was loud. My roommates and I blinked awake to the sound of our counselors blasting music from a speaker in the hallway. I could hear them dancing around as I stumbled out of bed, bleary with jet lag.
When my roommates and I joined the rest of our bus group, I was greeted by the familiar noise of a mass of teenagers chatting and shouting at one another. The scene was not so different from one in a typical American high school although we were thousands of miles away.
As we all trudged to the dining hall for breakfast that morning, I was met by sounds and sights which were definitely not familiar to me.
We passed palm trees turned bird nests which housed seemingly hundreds of small green birds. Chirping filled the air as birds I had never seen outside of a cage swooped through the air. Before I ate my breakfast that day, I saw at least three peacocks and some truly gorgeous deer.
My time so far in Israel can be described well through that first morning. I have found myself surrounded by a mixture of the familiar and the new. I have danced in the hallway to Taylor Swift’s music with new friends and I have floated in the Dead Sea.
This trip has not always been easy, which I’m glad for. As a group we have had challenging discussions about the Israel-Palestine conflict. I’m glad for the chance to grow and learn with other Jewish kids in an environment that is familiar enough to feel safe and new enough to leave our comfort zones.
