Tel Tzuba Pictures!!!

My friend Tamar and I in one of the ancient homes on Tel Tzuba

Tamar, Dani, and I under a super cool arc thing

Myself sitting on top of the highest point of the Tel :)

The three of us nestled in the Judean Hills

Tel Tzuba in Hebrew

Tel Tzuba

"ARE THOSE CACTI?!" I shouted as my friends and I walked up the Tel. Sure enough, there were dozens and dozens of cacti surrounding the dirt path that lead to our destination. But, unsurprisingly, the cacti were nowhere close to the most beautiful part of our short hike.

At first, I was shocked at how magical the state of Israel looked from even a small hill. As we began our ascent to the top of  Tel Tzuba, each and every time I looked out over the peak, chills ran down my spine; each and every time I turned to find something that would make a better picture than the last, I found myself looking at an even more breathtaking view than the one I had seen five minutes before. From afar, the Tel looked somewhat like a turtle-shaped hill. However, once I stood at the highest point possible, on top of a rock wall that had once acted as a home to the indigenous people of Israel thousands of years ago, the Tel had become a place that I could never get tired of. The view that it provides is more glorious than anything I have ever laid my eyes upon in my entire life. A description of this particular view cannot be put in to words, for it would not do it any justice.

Sitting on top of the wall...sitting upon rocks higher up in the sky than I have ever been freely caused a burst of adrenaline to run throughout my body. In the moment that I looked out over the amazingly beautiful cities of Israel I had realized that nothing could compare to the sight that I had very fortunately laid my eyes upon. This moment, this very special moment, was the moment that I fell in love with the country of Israel. And although it is only my sixth day living here, I am already 110% sure that I want to return again soon. Sitting upon the highest point of the Tel had made me a million times more excited to adventure throughout this amazing country. I realized in this moment that I was the luckiest girl alive to be able to travel such a long way from home for such a long amount of time in order to learn and experience Israeli culture, the Jewish people's culture, my people's culture. And with this opportunity, I will make these next four months the best four months of my life.

להתראות

The Arrival

   After surviving the ten and a half hour flight across the Atlantic, we had made it to the Holy Land. Right before landing, each of the forty lucky students who had been able to avoid a delay due to the snowstorm had come upon a beautiful sight. Just around twenty thousand something feet below us was the land of Israel. As we began our descent, the red roofs of Israeli homes and the beautiful mountains and valleys had put me in awe. I had never seen a sight so breathtaking, and then I realized that it was my new home, for the next four months anyway. Once that thought settled in, the adrenaline burst throughout my body. It had FINALLY hit me that I had packed up nearly 100 pounds of clothing and school supplies and taken it half way across the world to start a new chapter of my life in Israel.

   As drowsy and disgusting as I felt, I couldn't contain my excitement to finally be in the Ben Gurion airport. Going through the foreign passport line may have been one of the most painful experiences of my life; carrying a backpack that felt like it weighed thousands of pounds and sweating through my shirt and jacket, surrounded by the most diverse group of people I had come to interact with, hearing different languages left and right. Finally, though, the group of forty EIE students made it to baggage claim and we lugged our suitcases on carts through customs and out of the terminal. After exchanging our dollars for shekalim and receiving our new Israeli SIM cards, we were finally on our way to Kibbutz Tzuba.

   Since the first day of our arrival to Israel, I feel like I have spent at least a week or two with every person here. The relationships we have developed with each other are already so strong and they will most likely last a lifetime. I can't wait for all the adventures and the memories that we are going to make that we will remember forever.