By Morgan Gitlitz, Sci-Tech Israel Participant, Bus 12 There are so many places to visit, both historical, informational and beautiful. You can travel with a group and make memories with friends from all different backgrounds There is REALLY good food to try all over!...

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.