100 Hours

In 100 hours I will be on my way to the biggest adventure of my life. As you can see, it's rather hectic packing my life up for the next 9 months. While I am excited to go to Israel, it's hard to realize that a chapter of my life is ending. While a new chapter is beginning there are still parts of my life that are extremely difficult to give up and parts that I don't want to give up. In 4 days I will be getting on a flight going to Israel. In 100 hours a chapter of my life will be over. 100 hours to say some impossibly hard good-byes to friends and family. But at the same time in 100 hours I will be starting the most amazing chapter of my life. A chapter full of adventure, learning, fun, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

For those of you who would still like to communicate with me while I am in Israel, I will have a computer with internet and hopefully my phone as well (if there is good wi-fi I will still be able to text/call people with my normal cell phone). If you would like to know my skype, phone number, email address, or anything else, please let me know.

What I am doing

In 12 days I will be leaving on what I hope will be the greatest experience of my life. For those of you who don't know what I am doing, I will be traveling to Israel for 9 months starting on September 2nd. So what exactly am I doing while I am there? Well I have about as much of an idea as you do. What I do know is that I will be spending my first 3 months in Jerusalem and then moving to Bat Yam my second 3 months.

My program is called Young Judaea Year Course. I will be traveling with a few hundred other students from all over the world doing the same gap year program I am. Within the Young Judaea program, I am doing a medical specialty track. That means that many of the classes I take and much of the volunteer work I do will be based around medicine and learning about medical careers. My final three months in Israel I will be doing a program called Magen David Adom, which involves riding and volunteering in an ambulance around Israel. So as of now, that is basically all I know about what I am doing in Israel. A lot of classes, volunteer work, and just hanging out getting to know people and getting to know the country. It should be a great year and I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be hard to leave and hard to leave my family and friends (and dog) but I know that once I get there I will have an amazing experience there. I will make sure to update my blog at least every few days while I am in Israel. Stay tuned...