First, I’ll get out of the way what I’ve been trying to avoid, I’m coming home on Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, I miss Philadelphia, am anxious to see everyone at Gratz College, see my family and friends, but I’m not looking forward to leaving Eretz Yisrael. My experience here has been exactly what I wanted and I take home an amazing group of international friends, many who will be here for 2 years and more than happy to house me when I make my return trip.

Ok, so now onto the fun stuff. This past weekend I took my one, non-university organized trip. 2 friends and I rented a car and took the 2 hours drive down to the Dead Sea. We arrived Friday afternoon around 4:30 after getting lost in Jerusalem. We stayed at the Masada Hostel which was a very nice place right at the base of Masada. The plan was to go up to Masada and watch the sunset but none of us factored in Shabbat, which means the cable car is closed. We stocked up on food at the supermarket before beginning our trip so there was no need to pay 60 NIS for Shabbat dinner. We pigged out in the room on chocolate spread, pita, chumus, Bisli, PB&J, fruit and anything else we could find while watching the Olympics. A TV is really a luxury for me since there isn’t one in the dorms. We spent the night in the pool and relaxing.

Saturday was a jam-packed day. We woke up, ate the hotel breakfast and headed out. We intended to go to the Dead Sea but we kept seeing tour busses driving up to Masada. We headed up to the mountain (1/4 of a mile from the hostel) and discovered that Masada was open and that the cable car was running. We put on sunscreen; each grabbed our 1.5 liter of water and headed up the cable car. I had forgotten some of the history and so I was happy to watch a movie before heading up and then discovering the mountain for myself. I was more than excited when the movie mentioned Josephus Flavious because I learned about him with Dr. Davis in “Introduction to Classical Judaism” last Fall. Once on the mountain my first observation was the heat. People told me it was hot but there’s just no way to prepare for the kind of oppressive heat you face on Masada. As my friends and I walked through the sites on the mountain I experienced it differently than I had before. With the new knowledge I have gained from my classes at Gratz, I have a new understanding of the time, the situation and the history. After about 1 ½ hours we made our way down the mountain into our air conditioned car.

The rest of the day was typical for a visit to that area. We headed to the Dead Sea, applied mud and hopped into the water. After a scorching hour there we headed back to our hostel to shower, watch some more Olympics and get ready for dinner. When I visited this area the first time I was 6 years old and my family stayed on the Ein Gedi Kibbutz. I was excited to visit there. We stuck to our plan and ate dinner in the Guest House dining hall. The buffet was excellent.

We headed home and arrived back at the University around 11:00 pm. What none of us knew was that the Ein Gedi dinner had gotten us sick with food poisoning. Despite that setback the weekend was great!