Our Jourey to Israel

Upon arrival in New York, we were all excited for the long ours of bonding to come. We first were indicidually interviewed by the Israeli airline staff. We were all surprised by the in depth questioning about outr Jewih haritage. Although it seemed to take forever, we thankfully all made the cut! After that it was smooth sailing to the gate. It was so late that it seemed like we were the only ones in the airport along with the many other birthright groups. After many hours of waiting and getting to know our peers, we finally boarded the plane and began our journey. The airplane that we were on was two stores and fit about 400 people; it looked like a cruise ship. Most of us were able to sleep or read and watch movies. We landed in Israel 10 hours later. Thankfully none of our luggage got lost, and to our surprise upon arrival we were greeted by an enthusiastic group of soltiers that sang and played drums for us; they were so excited that were were here! the soldiers that greeted ys are now part of our group for the whole 10 days and are ordinary kids just like us! We then had an opening ceremony with all of the Birthight groups where we found out that the date of our arrival is the exact english date that Israel was founded in 1948! We sang the chehehiany to celebrate all being together in Israel for the first time. Our group embarked on a journey 3 hours north to the Golan Heights. We were all very tired on the way there, but we were all excited to see what Israel is like. We arrived at the kibbutz and did a short group bonding activity before getting our random room assignments and heading to bed to get ready for the long day to come. It was a long journey but we are all extatic for the 10 days ahead of us!!

Rachel Lynn
Marlee
Sarah