Lasts and Firsts

So before I left for Israel I noticed that I was keeping tracks of all the "lasts" I was having in my head. Last time I'd take a shower in my shower, last time I'd see my friends, last time I'd go out to dinner with my parents. And after a while all those little lasts piled up and started to weigh me down. But then I remembered I was going to be in Israel for nine months and decided that was too exciting to even be sad over, and besides it's moot anyways because those weren't real lasts, they were just lasts for now.
And so instead I've decided to replace that list of lasts with a list of firsts I've come up with during my first week staying in Israel.
1. First time in Israel
   I thought I'd get the broadest one out of the way first. But yes, this is my first time here, and I'm staying for 9 months. Scary, right? But honest-- it's SO beautiful here. The first (few) days I was walking around like a kid in a candy store because I couldn't get enough of everything that was going on around me. And still I'm in awe of just how pretty Jerusalem is, and I've barely even scratched the surface. I could go on and on about how much I love it here, but I think you get the jist of it.
2. First time meeting (most of) these people.
   I think there were like 8 or 9 out of 79 people on this trip that I actually knew before coming here, so yeah, that's a lot of new people to meet. And I have to say that there are so many fantastic people here. It's almost like going to a year long USY event!
3. First Shabbat in Jerusalem
   So this will probably be a longer one.
   For Kabbalat Shabbat we were split up into groups depending on where we were going to be the second half of the year (K'far Hassidim or Yerucham) (We actually were split up a lot to do some group bonding in this first week) and we all walked down to the park in our Shabbos clothes and went to a park that overlooked the Old City of Jerusalem. And the view was AMAZING. As the night went on and the sun went down we watched the city slowly illuminate, and I could not think of a better way to spend my first Shabbat in Israel.
   Later that night we had Tisch, which for those of you who know what a ruach session is, it was basically that except with only the people who really wanted to be there. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically where a bunch of Nativers and the madrichim (sort of like counselors) sit around a table and sing shabbos songs. It was oodles of fun and since everyone wanted to be there and wasn't forced to, there was phenomenal energy throughout the room.
   The next day we were able to choose which service we would like to attend, so a few friends and I walked to Shira Haddasah, which is the first Orthodox egalitarian synagogue. We were separated males from females, but the females were still allowed to take leadership roles such as reading torah, and it was a really nice service. We also ended up talking to a couple Israelis who were there, and they were all so nice to us.
   And then after that I, along with a lot of other Nativers, took out Shabbos Siestas (I'm making it a thing.)
   Slichot was later that night, but unfortunately I wasn't able to stay for long because I had a lot of homework to do.
4. First time taking classes at Hebrew University
   This is where I'm going to be studying for the next few months. We took a tour around the campus the first day we were there, and besides being absolutely gorgeous, it's a really great school with great professors and classes. Currently I'm taking just a Hebrew class and a class called Jerusalem Throughout the Ages class, where we go on a lot of field trips. But I'm really enjoying it so far.
5. First time going to the City of David
   Speaking of the trips we go on in that class, yesterday we went to the City of David, which was like a hike/ tour/ history lesson. We walked through the old water tunnels where some people got soaked and I didn't even get my shorts wet (tall people advantages). However this also meant that I was bent over most of the time because the tunnels were obviously not meant for really tall people (tall people problems). But it was still a lot of fun.
6. First soccer game in Israel
   Yesterday we also went to the Israel vs. Russia soccer game. We lost 0-4 (Israel isn't exactly the best at soccer) which completely killed any chance of us being in the next world cup but it wasn't exactly surprising, and we still had fun. I got to hang out with some people I haven't gotten to seen too often because they're in Yerucham, and we cheered and danced and attempted to but failed at talking to people in Hebrew.
7. First time getting sick in Israel
   Unfortunately I've manged to catch a cold in the first week buuuuut I'm pulling through it. I stayed home from class today, which is why I finally had time to write this blog post (I really needed the rest, and I think I'm starting to feel better!). So fingers crossed I get over this quickly because being sick is not as fun as not being sick.

Basically, Israel is awesome and I'm having a great time and even though I miss all you guys from the states, I know I'll be back in just a few months. I'm looking forward to a bunch of more firsts in this beautiful land with all these beautiful people!

The Preface

Hey, you. Yeah you! Guess what you’ve just found?

My travel blog.

I have just under a week before I hop on a plane and travel halfway around the world to Israel, where I will be living, studying, and volunteering for 9 months on a gap year/ college leadership program called NATIV. As you can probably imagine, I'm exTREMELY excited and am probably going to spend the next six days in a glass case of emotion while I wait to leave.

Of course, besides being excited, I'm also nervous. I mean, I'm going to a foreign country that I've never been to and can hardly even speak the language for 9 months with a bunch of people I've never met (well, I've met some of them, and I'm really close to a few, but still), I think it would be crazy NOT to be nervous. And I'm a little sad. I'm leaving behind all I've really known my entire life, my amazing family and friends, and I won't see anyone for NINE WHOLE MONTHS which is a really long time, especially when you're only 18. Like, I said goodbye to my best friend yesterday and I thought I was going to lose it.

But I think the overwhelmingly dominant emotion I have right now is EXTREME EXCITEMENT AND HAPPINESS BECAUSE I AM GOING TO ISRAEL ON A TRIP I HEARD WAS AMAZING WITH A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO SEEM REALLY COOL AND IT IS GOING TO BE THE EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME. 

I'm not really sure what I was trying to achieve in this post but I think I got my excitement across accurately with that. I mean, there's not really much more for me to say considering I haven't left yet. I still have six days and 70% of my packing until I can start my journey, and when it starts I'll write about as much as I can as often as I can here.

But it's just the wait.

Six days.

I can do this. I can wait just six more days.