It still has not set in that I am in Israel. Our traveling experiences have been quite the thrill...almost missing our flight at JFK was insane. Fortunately, we got pushed to the front when going through security again (you have to repeat security once before you take an international flight even if you already went through it once) and made our flight. I think it was the longest time I had ever spent traveling on a plane. Atalia is an amazing airline to take if anyone is ever considering going to Italy. Great food. Anyways, we arrived in Tel Aviv around 3:10 pm and had to go through customs. Tel Aviv (Ben Guiron) International has probably the tightest security around. People easily get questioned right after getting off the plane and heading to customs to get your passport checked. Questions can range from why are you here? what are you studying? who are you here with? It can get intimidating to those especially who are traveling abroad for the first time.
Once we landed in Tel Aviv, we headed out to the Old City of Jerusalem to head to our hostel. We currently are staying in the Citidal Youth Hostel, located in the Christian Quarter within the Old City. I didn't realize there also is an Armenian Quarter located within the Old City, which is pretty amazing. I knew there were Armenians within Israel, but I am not too familiar as to why there is a quarter named after them. I am sure I will figure it out within a couple days. The food here is AMAZING. The fact that I got to have lamajuhn, falafel, hummus, pita, etc. all in one meal just made this trip even more worth it. After dinner, we headed out to do some exploring around the Old City. Many markets and little shops filled the streets of the Old City with different sights and sounds. The whole city is made of stone which makes it even more incredible to think how old this place is. I could go on and on about the history of the Old City and every little detail that makes it so incredible. Since I am about to fall asleep, I will end on the note that we did get to see the Western (Wailing) Wall, which is quite a site. Many women and men gather at this wall to pray and thank God for being God. However, for those are familiar with the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock that is near by, this place has different meanings depending on what religion one follows. Muslims and Jews share this wall, but Muslims are given a special bridge to go up to the top of the wall because of the dispute with the Dome of the Rock. For those who are not familiar with this, please Wikipedia it for a short summary as to why these places are incredibly controversial. Wars and conflict have been started over such things like this. The purpose of this trip is to really understand the culture of the people who live here, which includes religion. It is crazy to see the devotion these people have for their religion...many Jews of course, but just seeing the ways they interact with each other and how their society is. Tomorrow, we get to see the Holocaust memorial here (Yad Vashem) and get our first briefing by B'tselem, an Israeli Human Rights group. It should be interesting...
No comments:
Post a Comment