It's hard to go to sleep at a reasonable time when you're having great conversations with great people.
It's hard to go to sleep at a reasonable time when you're having great conversations with great people.
We made our way to a shimmering pool of water fed by a picturesque waterfall.
We woke up in the still-dark desert, barely able to make out the shadow of the mountain above us. After a sleepy breakfast, we began to climb the winding Snake Path of Mount Masada. We reached the summit of Masada just in time to watch the sunrise over the Dead Sea, which was an absolutely unforgettable sight.
We talked about what it's like to actually live in this country that we've all grown to love and face the issues that they do. Many of these issues have to do with serving in the army, which is a part of most Israelis' lives in ways that we can't really imagine, even though we've gotten a pretty good idea of the experience through our new Israeli friends' perspectives.
We had a super exciting day with a mix of adventure and history.
This morning we did a nature hike through some really pretty forest. The rocky path was challenging, so we were all careful to watch our step, instead of looking at the beautiful trees, but picking our footing was fun on its own. Then we drove to Tel Aviv and had (a very fancy, very quick) lunch in our hotel for tonight. I have now had falafel as part of my lunch for three days in a row and that's awesome.
My day began by waking up at 3:50am in order to watch the beautiful morning sunrise at the top of Mt. Masada. At the top of this amazing mountain, our group explored Masada and learned about the history from this site. We watched as a few of my friends had their bar/bat mitzvah, which was very touching and inspriational! I then went to the Dead Sea where I floated alongside everyone and enjoyed the beautiful salty water.
There are certain things in life that when you finally reach the pot at the end of the rainbow, you know the journey was worth it, and this was one of those things. Words just can't truly describe the waterfall and my attemps to describe it will not do it justice, but I felt so lucky watching my new and old friends dive in to refresh in one of nature's amazing gifts. It was honestly a perfect afternoon.
Today was a very enjoyable day up in the north of Israel. It is tough to properly describe how amazing this sight was and how in awe our group was of this view. In all, Birthright has been unbelievably fun so far and my only expectation is that it will only get better!
Following our discussion, we boarded the bus and began drifting down the Jordan River. To me, this was the highlight of the day. While the water was a little cold, and everyone insisted on splashing around, the time we spent on the raft talking and laughing as a new group is something I will remember forever.