The plane ride from Newark Airport to Tel Aviv was a long one.

Personally, I couldn’t sleep. I was just too excited about the whole thing. The plane ride was about 9 ½ hours straight.

When we arrived to the Tel Aviv airport, everyone was exhausted from the flight, but still excited about meeting the students from Israel. On our way out of the airport, we met Ben and Nadav, two hosts (Ben, who was hosting Juan Aguilar, and Nadav, who was hosting Luis Saeteros).

Ben and Nadav were very welcoming and made us feel comfortable right from the start by asking about our trip and telling us a little bit about Israel. We all got on the bus and went on our way to the school from the airport.

When we first got to the school everyone was excited but still a little shy. After eating and introducing ourselves the Israeli students broke the ice by giving us a tour of the school. Their school is similar to our school in that many of their students play sports, such as soccer and basketball. When we finished our tour, we went back inside into the library and played a name game. We had a couple of laughs and helped each other in the game.

We left the library and went to our hosts’ homes and met their families. I left with Roni. Edgar left with Eshel. Juan left with Ben. Luis left with Nadav. Kalvin left with Karin. And Emmanuel left with Shahaf. At night we all met at Shahaf’s house for a barbecue. I would like to let you know that Shahaf’s father makes some of the best burgers I have ever had.

Another group picture while socializing and eating

After the barbecue, we all left our hosts’ homes and called it a night. Everyone went to bed early so we could be ready for the school day. It was a fantastic start to a great week we are all just so excited!