I'm leaving on a Jet Plane

Only two more days until I bid my farewells and head to the Holy Land. Everyone has given me advice on how to stay safe in Israel. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Mrs. McKinney (MK's momma) said "Run, duck and weave"

My Uncle Dean said "The safety for an AK-47 is different from an M-16"

My Grandma, Mamal said "Don't leave your room"

Although safety seems to be everyone else's biggest worry, my biggest challenge is packing. I am allowed one suitcase and one backpack for 6 months. After trying to decide what to pack all Christmas break I finally had everything ready. Then Mommy and I started to put my stuff into the suitcase. It would not even begin to all fit. After a few stressful hours of trying to be engineers we switched to a bigger suitcase and finally managed to get all the essentials under the 50 pounds weight limit.  

My flight leaves from Newark on Sunday and flies directly to Tel Aviv, about a 12 hour flight. I am flying El Al and so security will be tight. I'm a little nervous about security because I have traveled to Egypt and Turkey, both not very friendly with Israel. Also I am not Jewish or Middle Eastern Studies so it is quite confusing why I would want to spend a semester in Israel. 

My other biggest challenge is Hebrew. Since I grew up in Western North Carolina I never attended Hebrew School or for that matter knew anyone who was Jewish until I was a junior in high school. I traveled to Ghana and met Sydney and Jamie who became some of my best friends and were both Jewish. After attending Rosh Hashanah with Sydney and attending Sydney's sister Morgan's Bat Mitzvah I was hooked on Jewish culture. Hence why I am spending a semester in Israel. 

I know 4 words in Hebrew so far. 

Mavel Tov- meaning congratulations 

L'chaim- translating "to life" aka cheers 

Shalom- peace/hello/goodbye 

Falafel- not quite Hebrew but it will probably be a staple food in my life

My Hebrew needs some work before hitting the streets of Jerusalem solo but maybe my couple of words will keep me afloat for the first couple of weeks. 

I am beyond excited to finally start my adventure. Of course I will miss my family, friends, dog and BBQ but the new experiences I will have may just make up for all the things I will miss. I am excited and nervous! Ready to travel 6245 miles from home!

xoxo,

Katy Ann