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I’m currently back at home enjoying my last evening of break before the last 7 weeks begin, although I’m so sad to see this break come to a close as Israel was one of the most amazing countries and seeing my parents was a wonderful treat.

After living in a predominately Muslim country for 2 months, watching Palm Sunday & Easter celebrations in Spain and Passover in Israel was so cool. I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten the chance to have that well-rounded of a cultural and religious experience. The contrast between Israel and Morocco was the most interesting to me though, due to the large animosity held between the Muslim and Jewish communities for the Israel/Palestine debate. The tension couldn’t have been more prevalent for me then when I was going through Israeli security with a Moroccan stamp on my passport. What would have typically been a 20 minute ordeal turned into 2 hours as I was questioned by 3 officers and then 2 supervisors, had my bags checked and entirely dumped out two times, got escorted by armed officers to get my boarding pass and then patted down in a separate room for 20 minutes. And this was just with a Moroccan stamp!

For a country with such political hardship though, the people were incredibly friendly. My family & I stayed with my mom’s childhood best friend from Ireland who had moved to Israel. Together we saw numerous historical/religious sites like, the Wailing Wall, the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized, old Biblical cities like Jerusalem & Nazareth (which are now sprawling cities complete with Home Depots), climbed Mt. Sodom from the tales of Sodom & Gomorrah, swam/floated in the Dead Sea and then you know… saw The Hunger Games (don’t laugh, it’s not out in Morocco and I was desperate). It’s so fascinating to me that the history behind the people and places of Biblical tales I learned as a kid are a reality in this country and not only that but Israel’s tiny size means that wherever I was, I was no more than 3 hours from the Syrian, Jordanian, Egyptian and Saudi Arabian borders – places Westerners today rarely visit.

On top of everything, my experience having a traditional Passover dinner with a big group of friends was the best. Although with the guests at the table being a mix of Israeli, Irish, English & American, some Jewish, some not, and some who spoke Hebrew and some who didn’t… I guess it wasn’t the most traditional after all. It was however, hilarious, and ranked up there as one of the funniest nights of my whole semester. Songs were sung in a mess of 3 languages at once, more than the traditional 4 glasses of wine were had and there was more laughter than coherent speech at how ridiculous the whole scenario was.

An experience of a lifetime and all I can say is תודה (thank you) to everyone I met. Now on to making the most of my last 2 months!

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