Wednesday, June 20th

Hello everyone! I arrived in Israel this morning after spending the past nine hours watching The Breach (CIA agent sells secrets to the russians--people get angry), Shooter (Mark Wahlberg kicking butt for two hours), Bridge to Teribithia (Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe meets Never Ending Story... except it really never-ended...), and the man in front of me attempt to lay in my lap while not spilling any of his sandwich on himself (entertaining but not all that much fun). For what it's worth, the flight from Newark to Tel Aviv went by quickly and I was lucky to sit next to nice people :-D

Israel is MUGGY. But the weather didn't stop me from dominating the transportation system--I maneuvered my way through the train and bus situation at 9am on almost no sleep dragging two bags behind me arriving at my friend Sarah Persitz's apartment in less than a half-hour. Good way to start the day. Sarah has been studying and working in Israel since December when we participated in winterbreak israel trips through the UW. Later we met up with another good friend Talya Gilman who has been here since July of last year also studying and working. Interestingly, I found out today that she worked through the same program that I will be starting in July (Stagerim).

So what did I do during my first day in Israel? The only thing a university student should do during break--we went to the beach! Don't worry Dad, I put on enough suntan lotion for the both of us. It was a perfect beginning to my time in Israel. Tomorrow, I may meet up with some friends who are on a Birthright trip... but nothing's set!

I will post pictures as I figure out how to use the blog---or just look for links to my facebook site. Hope everyone is doing well, I will write about my AMAZING time in NYC prior to Israel soon.

All for now,

AZ