Student Reflections: The North

I am writing this on the bus as we head back to Jerusalem for Shabbat after an awesome week up North. Sunday was mainly a travel day, where we headed up North. We spent the first three nights of the week at a hotel in Nes Amim. The area was beautiful and had a great basketball court, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the spotty WiFi.

Monday was probably the best day of the trip thus far. We went to Kfar Kedem, where they showed us how Jews used to live off the land in the time of the Mishnah. They had a farm and made fresh goat cheese in front of us, which was surprisingly tasty. Then we went donkey riding. To be honest, I think camels are the better transportation. I had an extremely stubborn donkey who spent 70% of the ride eating and only moved if I tugged on its neck uncomfortably hard. Then we had a simple yet delicious lunch of fresh pita and chicken. After that we went to the Extreme Park. I did the zip line and rock climbing but decided against the 20-meter bungee jump. Kind of felt like a chicken for not doing it, but heights aren’t my favorite.

Tuesday was a more educational day. We visited a kibbutz on the Lebanese border, and when I say on the border, I don’t mean a few miles away. You could throw a rock at the concrete fence separating Israel from Lebanon, and we could see houses from a Lebanese village on the other side.

We spent most of Wednesday in Tzfat, a mystical city with its roots in Kabbalistic tradition. The highlight of that city for me was a man who played musical instruments that he felt connected him to the four elements. He was a pretty eccentric guy but also an extremely talented musician and a great sport with the people (myself included) who weren’t as into spiritualism as he. Then we checked into our rooms at Shaar HaGolan. The basketball court was not as nice, mainly because of the enormous amount of bird poop all over it, but the rooms were awesome. There was more space in my four-person room there than any other room all trip.

Yesterday (Thursday) was actually the best day of the trip, even beating out Monday in my opinion. We started the day with the group split up. Half of the grade went on a hike, and I was with the other half doing agricultural volunteering. We basically just spent 2 hours picking weeds out from tomato plants and listening to music together. It had great vibes. Then we went to Sachne, a beautiful park with natural pools. The water was very refreshing, and there were these little fish in the water that liked nibbling at our toes. I wasn’t a huge fan of that sensation, so I kept my legs moving while I was in the water, but a bunch of my friends liked the feeling and let a whole group of fish on their legs. Not sure why, but they enjoyed it. Also, it was Harry L.’s birthday, and his mom sponsored a bakery’s worth of cakes and chocolate snacks for us, so everybody got a nice pre-lunch dessert. We had a ton of time at the mall to buy stuff in preparation for Options Week, and then we went back to the hotel for a pretty chill night.

Today is a travel day. We have to hustle back to Jerusalem to make it back to the hostel in time for Shabbat. I am really looking forward to this next week, and it is shaping up to potentially be the highlight of the trip. We get to chill at our home base in Jerusalem and then we begin options week, where I am very excited for the Desert Adventure option.