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.