Day 1: I made it to Israel!

Hey Everyone!

I made it to ISRAEL!! For those of you who don't know, I have the amazing opprotunity to stay in Israel for the next three weeks. Our team consists of 16 students from Taylor, along with 1 group leader. In total, there are a little over 100 indivudals from the United States, along with a group from Australia, who are taking this class. Together, we will be studying "The Historical and Geographical Settings of Israel." We are staying at Jerusalem University College, which is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. I feel so blessed with this amazing opportunity and am so excited to see all that God will show me on this trip. It is still surreal that I will be walking on the same land that Jesus walked a little over 2,000 years ago. I know that I will be stretched in many ways, and I am looking forward to all the adventure, learning, and spiritual growing to come! I thought it would be fun to post a blog so that I can share with everyone what God is teaching me and the experience I'm having.

After leaving at 5:00 PM on Sunday in Chicago, we landed in Tel Aviv at 3:30 PM on Monday (today). We are eight hours ahead here. We first flew to London, which was a 7 hour and 45 minute flight. The London Airport was something else...I felt like I was in a mall. From there, we had a 4 hour 15 minute flight to Tel Aviv. The flights seemed to go by pretty quickly, which was nice. I also enjoyed the British accents that the flight attendants had, along with the British kids sitting around me.

Upon arrival in Tel Aviv, the weather was in the 60s and sunny. Basically, beautiful! Going through customs was really simple...not what I was expecting. After finding our luggage, we met with our group leader from JUC, along with two other groups who are participating in the same program. We have a nice coach bus for transportation. It took us about 45 minutes to get from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is right on the Mediterranean coast, and the land in this area was very luscious and flat (the Costal Plain). As we drove east, the land became more hilly, rocky, and mountainous. It was neat to see how much the land changed just within a few miles.

Once we arrived in Jerusalem, the bus dropped us off at the bottom of this hill. The weather was cool, but perfect; by this time, it was dark out. As a group, we walked about 1/2 a mile along the Old City Wall, which was incredible...I was speechless. It was quite the adventure, considering we were rolling our 50 lb suitcases up a rocky path.

JUC is located along the Old City Wall. The school itself looks like a castle, and is absolutely breath-taking. It is made of old stone, and looks very historic. Once we got there, we were led to our rooms. I am pretty sure that I could not have asked for a better room. Basically, our room is on the roof/balcony. We carried our suitcases up 4 flights of winding stairs, but finally made it. This balcony overlooks the modern city Jersualem, and it was amazing! When we open the door to our room, we are on the balcony, overlooking the city. It is perfect, and even better than I expected. I am staying with 5 other girls, which is really exciting, and a lot of fun!

The school fed us a delicious meal not too long after we arrived. They are trying to adjust us to our new time zone. After eating, the "Taylor group" took an adventure around the buidling. There are beautiful gardens and courtyards, and as I previously stated, the building itself is so unique and historic. I absolutely love it.

For the remainder of the evening, a group of us sat on the roof, overlooking the city. We are so eager for all that is ahead! Tomorrow, we will start early at 7:00 AM and will have an orientation meeting. In the afternoon, we will spend 5 hours touring the Old City of Jerusalem. I can't wait!

I look forward to updating you on what is happening in Israel! I will write on here as often as I can. Thank you for all your prayers!