Oops... Oh well

So it looks like I totally fell off the face of the earth when it came to documenting the rest of my Israeli adventures. I also didn't write a single thing about living in Lisbon and traveling to Rome, Sardinia, Corsica, Saorge (France), and then back to Lisbon/Tel Aviv! Maybe I'll give some recaps and pictures at a later date. For now I'm preparing to STAFF a Birthright trip in just two short days! I'm excited and I definitely hope I can keep up with the posts. Maybe it'll be helpful for other future staff members!

Until then :)

June 9, 2013

So I'm behind on posts, and I'm really tired so...can't guarantee that this will be very good.

On Wednesday, we spent all day (11 am-10+ pm) at a mega event for all Birthright groups currently in Israel. It started off really fun and I was really into it, but then it got so hot and the day just seemed super long. Shockingly, I didn't complain! I actually had a pretty good time. I represented our group on the volleyball, basketball, and soccer teams. I also climbed a rock wall, shot a paintball gun, did Zumba, and kicked ass at various army training activities such as monkey bars, parallel bars, and doing those jumping in and out of tires thing. The day ended with a little ceremony of sorts and some music. The ceremony was meh, but there was actually pretty awesome live music that we missed because we hit the road. I was happy to leave, but that would have been awesome! Oh, I brought my hoop with me because I thought it could potentially give my team some extra spirit points (a real thing). A girl discovered me hooping and it turns out she's been hooping for six years...and she's from New York...and we have a few mutual Burning Man friends from the city! Of course, right? At the end of the day I met another hooper girl and she was super good.

Yesterday was an interesting day... we finally went to Tel Aviv, but honestly we weren't there long and didn't do much. I'm DEFINITELY glad to be returning for a weekend in August! The gay pride parade was going on, which we didn't see, though we certainly saw a lot of eccentric people and lots of rainbow flags. We went to Robin Square and then did an activity called "Our Street." We were broken up into groups and had scavenger hunts. Our theme was graffiti. We went around to specific graffiti and had to ask passers-by about their opinions on political statements and blah blah blah. Honestly I wasn't paying much attention. I thought it was unfortunate that we had to go from point A to point B and not discover things on our own. Most people were looking at the ground or talking with each other instead of looking around and exploring. One part that I really enjoyed was our last assignment for the scavenger hunt. We had to tape up a piece of paper, write an issue in the middle, and ask 15 people to write their opinions/draw/whatever on it. It seemed appropriate to choose "gay marriage." I actually really like the way it came out! I have lots of pictures. I love that it's in English and in Hebrew and even has a few little pictures.

After that we were on our own for lunch--only 30 minutes. A lot of people on this trip are really bad about being on time, so we were late to our next activity. I'm talking 40 minutes late. Ridiculous! I managed to find some cheap Brooklyn pizza only two blocks from our meeting spot so I decided that would be delicious. And it was. We then walked about a block (or less) to Independence Hall, where we learned about Israel becoming an independent state. Pretty cool.

After, we went back to the hotel and got ready for our Shabbat "service"/dinner. Let's just say two people were not in an appropriate state for Shabbat and will be sent home from the trip early. That's all I'll say about that... So that definitely caused drama within the group. I ended up hanging out with everyone at night in a room for the first time since I got here! I didn't drink or anything but it was still fun to hang out.

Today I got to sleep in! It's sad when sleeping in is 8:30. Breakfast at 9, thennnnn beach at 10!! My first time in the Mediterranean Sea :) I wanted to go in the water but there were fish and I don't do that... I was happy to lie around and hoop a bit! We were only there for two hours. Now I'm back at the hotel, it's 4 pm, and I've got another two and a half hours before we meet for an "activity." No idea what we're doing. I'm really glad I've gotten to hang out by the pool and relax today. A nap would be great... Maybe I'll do that right now! Tonight we're going out so I'm sure I'll want to rest up.

June 4, 2013

So I've been on the go since noon on Sunday, June 2nd. Tons of traffic on the way to JFK, I ended up getting there an hour after the meeting time. Whoops. Though it wasn't bad because the leaders of the group built in a big cushion for things like that. Blah blah blah, boarded a flight to Vienna and was stuck in a middle seat between an Austrian mother and her son. Not only did they talk to each other every now and then, but they both managed to spill into my tiny little seat. I have never been so uncomfortable on a flight before. I managed to sleep maybe two hours of the seven. Yuck. Our flight from Vienna to Tel Aviv was delayed about three hours, which was a little annoying. Luckily, this time I had a window seat and slept literally the entire four hour flight.

Once we got out of the Tel Aviv airport, I exchanged some money and then we had to drive yet another two hours to our hotel in Tiberius. I went to sleep immediately (midnight) but some people in our 40 person group stayed up drinking until 4:30. Pretty stupid, if you ask me. So this morning we were up at 6:30 (not enough sleep!), had a breakfast at 7, a little chat with the director of Yael Adventures, and were on the bus by 8. We went hiking for maybe two hours and it was super beautiful. I forget the name but I'll be back with it later...if I remember to do so. I brought my hoop in case of an awesome photo op on a mountain, but I might save that for later (especially the sunrise hike!).

Next we went to Tzfat and got lunch and shopped around. I bought a really beautiful (c)hamsa necklace, which is the only thing I will be purchasing in Israel that is not a meal. We went into two temples, but honestly it just reminded me of going into so many different wats in SE Asia. Starts to get tiresome... We went to a place called Ascent where we did an activity with biblical text and relating it to modern day issues. We then returned to the hotel, where I was able to shower, take a small nap, then eat dinner! We had a discussion about different aspects of Judaism and how we rank their importance in our personal and collective Jewish lives.

Now I'm desperately trying to go to sleep! It's nearly 11 pm and I'm once again waking up at 6:30. Tomorrow we have another hike and will be kayaking in the Jordan River! Hopefully I'll start posting pictures tomorrow, as it gets a little intimidating when they all accumulate.

September 5, 2011

Last day of my trip. We walked along the Thames and saw some cute things. After that we met up with Matt one last time for lunch. From there we collected our bags and made our way to Heathrow via the tube. It took a while but I fell asleep a few times. Ummm we had quite a hike to our gate, but when I got there I of course saw a rando wearing some Charter Club gear. I go to Europe for two weeks and I meet up with eight Princeton people on purpose, and one accidentally. What the heck?

Our flight was a little delayed but fiiinally we got moving. I watched two movies then passed out for basically the remainder of the eight hour flight. THUS ENDING MY TRIP. So sad to be home...classes now start TOMORROW and I'm totally not in the right mindset. Can't I just travel forever?

September 4, 2011

On Sunday my dad and I made our way to Reading, which was about a 30 minute train ride. There we had a little indoor barbecue (stupid weather!) and I met some family for the first time. I met my grandfather's sister, her daughter, her husband, their son, and his son! Four generations right there. It was really lovely :) They had a springer spaniel (although Welsh, not English like Yodie) and she was cute as well, of course.

Straight from Reading we went back into London and went to my uncle's house for dinner with Matt. I hadn't seen him in a few years so that was good...even though he's a complete pain in the ass. Whoops.

Passed out around midnightish back at the room. Yikes!

September 3, 2011

Well, Saturday had a bit of late start since I was pretty hungover. I was lucky enough to get to meet up with Dave Ralston, a former counselor at Camp Mason! I hadn't seen him in 7 years (seem to be the theme, huh?) We met up for some dranky dranks from about 3-6ish. Then I met up with Lucy, my PU Band friend, at Big Ben. We walked around for a little bit and took a last look around. We ended up meeting up with Chris, an Oxford student who spent the year at Princeton and in the band :) It was brief, as he was waiting in line with some friends for the London Eye. I was not about to spend £18 on that (it's a large, super low moving Ferris wheel).

It started getting cold, so we took a scenic bus ride back to my room so I could get changed. Then we headed off to meet Graham, another former camp counselor! We went to three different bars and had a grand ol' time. We ended up hanging out in one of them after-hours with the two bartenders. Super fun but poor Lucy had a little too much. Graham was a little schwastyface, too. Whooops!

September 2, 2011

I'm guessing these next few posts will be rather brief since so much time has elapsed...whoops.

Hmm let's refer back to my photos to see what Friday had in store for me..

Oh yes! My dad and I walked around London for quite a while. After sitting next to an Australian couple from Canberra (Isaacs, even--where my grandma lives!), we saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. It was actually pretty difficult to see anything due to crowds, but I most definitely heard the band playing :) Hilariously enough a lot of them were Frank Sinatra songs. From there we went to the Horse Guards and of course took some silly photos. One of them mumbled to me through his teeth saying, "I wanted to say you're gorgeous". Wowwy, thaaaaanks! The dude looked about 18 haha. Bad boy for talking :P We walked around the Mall and yada yada. We saw St. Paul's and St Martin In The Fields, where we went for tea in the crypt.

We met up with Matt in Shoreditch for some dinner, then I went to Matt's flat to hang out and pregame before going out. We went to two places, ultimately ending up at a gay bar (of course). It was a pretty wild night, actually. Passed the eff out as soon as I got back to the flat (which was around 3:30 or so)