A great start!

This is now our third day in Israel and we are having a great time. Don’t worry, I wasn’t told to say that. From the minute we walked off the plane and through immigration we were all greeted with a stamp in our passports and by a group of Israelis. I remember thinking that it was amazing that we were greeted with such excitement by the 8 Israelis who would be spending the next ten days, especially since we were all exhausted from the long flight. They sang and welcomed us in front of the rest of the people in the airport and very loudly got all of us to declare our arrival and the start of a great trip. We started with getting to know each other and on our first full day we took a hike in the Golan Heights and spent the day in the sun. We stopped for lunch and enjoyed shwarma, falafel, and yummy Israeli food. Later that day we got to see an Israeli military post and explore a bunker on the Israeli-Syrian border. After a long day we relaxed and enjoyed more time getting to know each other and our Israeli counterparts. They told us all about life in the army and in Israel. We are all excited to hike Masada at sunrise, but tomorrow we are spending our first day in Tel Aviv with 8 other groups of Birthright participants and having a huge Israeli party tomorrow night! by Cole Goldenberg U of I