Nights in Israel

A beautiful sunset in Jerusalem

      Once we finished all of our meetings and events for the day we would usually eat dinner together. I know, food was really a theme on this trip. We would talk about the events of the day and what we thought of all of the different situations. Then we would all say goodnight. Well, kind of.

       Depending on where we were we would do one of two things. We would go to bed or we would go adventuring. Now the second sounds much more exciting I understand, but sometimes we really didn’t have a choice. When you are in the mountains of the Golan there is not much to do besides go to bed, but sometimes we would try to figure out something to do because 7:00 is just way too early to retire for the night! So we would walk around for a while, or possibly just congregate in our room and talk about anything and everything; from political issues to school work to future goals! On nights when were actually near bigger cities, we of course had to have this time for further exploration of local life. A few classmates and I would catch a cab and head into town for the night! We would walk the streets and hit up all the local shops and street venders, though we never did really buy anything. While wandering we would run into random people and get the chance to talk with them for a while. See, we REALLY looked and sounded like tourists most of the time. The usual group was me and two other girls who were also blonde and loud. So this would usually strike up a conversation asking why we were there and where we were from. Sometimes people would take an interest in what we had to say and even offer to let us interview them about our papers. Other times, which was much rarer because the Israeli people are incredibly nice, the conversation would end at a simple response of “Good luck with your class and enjoy Israel!” It was during this time that we got the opportunity to see the current Israel, and really get to know its people.

Afternoons in Israel

Afternoons in Israel

Me with my Pita!!!!!

Most afternoons were filled with adventures in eating and speaking. My adventures in cuisine, I admit, may have been limited to mainly Pita bread but that was only because it was so delicious! I am not sure why I was so obsessed with the idea of stuffing bread full of falafel, shawarma, veggies, and humus, but for some reason I could not get enough! Almost every chance I got I would eat Pitas and Humus. There were a few times I would experiment with other types of food like soups and pastas, but none could measure up to the wonder that is Israeli Pitas!

After these adventures, we would make time for meetings with Israeli professionals. We got to talk with members of Knesset (this is like Israeli Congress), Demographic experts, Terrorism victims, city officials in the Golan, local members of Kibbutz, and military professionals. It gave us the opportunity to ask the questions our questions about the Israeli Palestinian conflict and get an answer from people who are on the front lines of the conflict. We were able to get great answers and honest perspectives from people that we learned to really respect and admire.    

One of my favorite afternoons we got the opportunity to interview the head of the Golan Heights settlements committee. The legend goes “An Israeli woman named Romona wanted a town, so her husband went out and built her one.” Although she denies it, Romona and her husband were the original settlers in the Golan Heights. We were able to discuss the importance of the people that chose to live in the Golan, and how it feels to see a city grow from the very beginning.  I probably honestly liked this meeting because of the appeal of some sort of love story, but I also felt like the people in the Golan were very unique. The members of the committee we met with were candid and personable, at no point did I feel like they tried to dodge our questions, or talk down to us because we were only students. Absolutely a unique experience… it’s like the stuff of legends ya know?

Mornings in Israel

This sign pointed to all of the important places in or around Israel like Jerusalem or Bagdad.

So I spent the majority of my Spring break in Israel. As in that country across the ocean fondly referred to as ‘the Holy land’ not to be confused with the violent place seen on TV. I went with The Center for Global Education on a Political Science study tour. While there my classmates (who later would become my friends) studied the conflict between Israel and Palestine and talked to some crazy influential people; but we will get to all that later. I have been trying to figure out how to break this blog up, which is why it is slightly overdue. I experienced so many things in Israel and I THINK it is all very important, although the truth is some parts could probably be left out. So I am going to inform you on MY VERSION of the Israel trip and you can fill in the gaps and conclude from it whatever you wish. Deal? Deal. I am going to break this into three separate parts. Mornings, Lunch (because let’s face it meals are basically a time of day and this one happens to be my favorite), and Nights in Israel.

MORNINGS IN ISRAEL