Earlier this morning was the teens visit to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Educational Center and Memorial. As these teens have already been to Auschwitz this summer, the visit was tailored with sensitivity to their previous educational experiences.  Emphasis was placed on the role of memory of the Holocaust in Israeli Society.

Since leaving Europe and arriving in the Holy Land of  Israel, I’ve had some time to reflect on my experience. In my time there I not only learned about my roots as a Jew, but I also about the ways European culture and society is different from ours in the U.S, especially with transportation. So, in this blog I’m going to list the top 3 differences from U.S transportation I noticed in Europe.

Using a pickaxe was nothing like it is in the movies. Instead of swinging down hard onto the rocks below, we used it to gently move dirt around as we shoveled rocks, dust, and maybe 2,000 year old pottery into buckets.

4:30 was not the earliest we had ever woken up on this trip, but that didn’t change the fact that I was exhausted. We slept in Bedouin tents and it was moderately comfortable, a little more comfortable than the desert just because of the mattresses. It still felt like nighttime when we got up, and I only really woke up when this giant bug was crawling around our tent.

For chavaya, a four day free choice, the majority of my friends decided to spend a few days in the IDF or hike from the Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean. For some reason I went out on a limb and chose Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. Even though none of my friends were doing it, I would not trade my experience with it for the world.

About two weeks ago our Bus split up into our chavaya groups (our 4 day electives) where I chose to take part in Yam l’ yam, a 4 day adventure from the Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean Sea. On our way to the Mediterranean we waded through cool rivers, learned to navigate the terrain in teams, traversed mountains, competed in a friendly competition of top chef, and cycled the final 12 miles through winding mountain roads and a banana farm to the warm waters of the Mediterranean.