SH-22-279's blog

Today was an emotionally challenging day for many of us. We started off on a good note with a delicious breakfast at the hotel at 7:30am. Afterwards, we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem. First, we heard an amazing survival story from Hannah, Anne Frank’s best friend! Hannah survived a work camp, but the most amazing part of her story was her optimistic attitude towards her experience. She found the positive in every situation and found the kindness of gentiles and other Jewish families to be the driving force behind her survival.

Today was an emotionally challenging day for many of us. We started off on a good note with a delicious breakfast at the hotel at 7:30am. Afterwards, we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem. First, we heard an amazing survival story from Hannah, Anne Frank’s best friend! Hannah survived a work camp, but the most amazing part of her story was her optimistic attitude towards her experience. She found the positive in every situation and found the kindness of gentiles and other Jewish families to be the driving force behind her survival.

A 7:00 A.M. breakfast wasn’t too rough for us as many of us were awake already in the tent (wasn’t as comfortable or sound-proof as we thought/many of us forgot to silence our Taylor Swift alarm clocks…). We had another delicious meal, this time breakfast, at the Ha’an Hashayarut Tents. It consisted of eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, cereal, coffee, milk, and more of that delicious pita! Needless to say, we all got in our last final share of it. We set off to Nachal Hawarim where we hiked along the Hawarim stream, a tributary to the Tzin river.

Waking up this morning for a 6:00 A.M. breakfast was a bit rough for many of us after our first night out in Tel Aviv. However, the sight of the sea ahead and the thoughts of the day’s agenda really got us going! We set off to the JNF Indoor Playground, Sderot, where we had the chance to play! More importantly, we learned about how the facility is used as a bomb shelter. Afterwards we headed to the Tenth Anniversary Parade. Although it was scorching hot, the energy level was out of this world!

Hi parents! My name is Haley Bandier and I'm a junior at James Madison University. It's our third day in Israel and we had our first Shabbat last night. I came onto this trip by myself, but luckily met three other JMU students on the trip. At first I felt extremely shy around all these new people from different places and faces, but now I can't imagine not knowing or meeting these people. We all connect on such an amazing level beyond the fact that we're all Jewish even though we're from different places all across the country. I haven't really experienced a shabbat since my Bat Mitzvah.

After a long day of traveling we were greeted by our great Israeli tour guide and peers at the airport. They were all just as upbeat and enthusiastic for the trip as we were! We then spent our first full day hiking in the Galilee. The views were amazing and it was great to do some walking after spending lots of time on the plane.