Day One! | Shorashim - Israel with Israelis

Day One!

By Evan Schmidt

Bus 274 safely arrived in Tel Aviv. We were extremely excited to see our Israeli family dancing and singing to our arrival. We gathered in a big group circle and learned a pump up chant "achim simcha", or brothers-joy . This set such a great tone for the trip.

Just when we thought we were done traveling, we loaded the bus to travel to our first destination Kibbutz Afik (located south of the infamous Golan Heights, about two hours from the airport ). We quickly learned it was only 9amlocal time, to which we dressed for our first hike (many of us with little to no sleep for the past 24 hours). We were all running on adrenaline, because we somehow completed the first water hike through a shallow stream. The hike ended with a splash battle amongst our 48 newest friends (no one remained dry). On the way back from the hike, we stopped for breathtaking views of the Sea of Galilee.


We did an opening ceremony which set the tone for our trip, one in which we plan to keep our hearts open to new experiences. The evening ended with dinner and ice breakers. Although awkward at first, it took no time for us to exchange embarrassing stories. Eventually the group passed out with our randomly assigned birthright roommates after a busy 36 hours.