Only 2 days, and it feels like 2 weeks…

On By Laura B.In UncategorizedLeave a comment
Note: This entry was finished about twelve hours ago; a lot has happened today, and I don’t have time to write about it. Also, I’m not sure when I will have time to write another entry. It might be a few days. You’ll just have to make do with this until then. 🙂

Whew!! It has been an action-packed day and a half since we landed in Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. There’s so much to discuss, I don’t really know where to start. I guess starting off with a quick overview would be best:
After an uneventful 12-hour flight (I slept for a few hours, but mostly entertained myself by watching “The Informant!” and “Flight of the Conchords”), we landed in Tel Aviv. We’d been warned about possibly being greeted with suspicion by the Israeli security guards, but we got though the passport checks smoothly. We all rode in a chartered bus into Jerusalem, whereupon we checked in at the Holy Land Hotel, located just outside the Old City. Before eating dinner, the whole group took a stroll through the Old City’s Moslem quarter, stopping at notable sites such as the Damascus Gate. We returned to the hotel, wolfed down a fabulous dinner (aahhh, hummus and lamb…), and went to bed quite worn out by the day’s events.
My roommates and I got up yesterday morning at 6:30 am. Jerusalem is a beautiful city, and quite a sight to wake up to; everything glows with a soft beige light in the morning sun, the color of old worn granite. It’s gorgeous enough to make you forget, just for a few minutes, about the turmoil and political tension that pervades the area.
After breakfast, we met our tour guide, Dawoud, an Arab Christian man who resides in the Old City. We began a lengthy walking tour of the Old City, stopping at the “big three” holy sites along the way: the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Dawoud, a short, somewhat portly man with a thick accent, was a fascinating tour guide, and quite well-versed in historical knowledge about Jerusalem. I can only remember about 5% of what he said to us the whole time, but whatever it was, it was definitely interesting! He remarked at one point that Christians living in the Old City are like “meat between two pieces of bread,” with regards to their social status; apparently they are looked down upon by the Muslims and the Jews, for reasons that I don’t quite understand. With more and more of them fleeing to countries such as Canada and America, Christians now make up only .5% of Israel’s population, according to Dawoud.
After touring the Moslem quarter, we made our way to the Western Wall, or the Wailing Wall–the last remaining piece of the Second Temple and Judaism’s holiest site. (You have to go through metal detectors to get there.) I can’t really explain the effect that this particular place had on me. I wasn’t quite expecting it, and then suddenly we walked into almost blinding sunlight and there it was, filling up half the sky. Our group split up by gender and the rest of the girls and I made our way into the women’s section of the Wall (which, might I add, is considerably smaller than the men’s section). I think there was a bar mitzvah or something happening in the men’s section; anyway, I wrote a prayer on a piece of paper, waited for a spot to open up, and approached the stone wall.
I won’t go into too much detail about what I felt when I put my hands and forehead on the cool rock of the Western Wall. It’s just a bit too personal. Suffice to say that I believe what they say about the presence of the Divine being inside that wall–and when I finally opened my eyes and walked away, I felt like I’d left a tiny piece of myself there.
We continued on, past the Western Wall and to the end of a very long line that led up to the entrance of the Temple Mount. The line went all the way down to the “Dung Gate,” which Dawoud informed us was so named because it was the gate through which the sewage exited in ancient Jerusalem. (I guess it can’t all be holy.) While waiting in line for an hour, we had a good view of the Mount of Olives, which has a number of different significances: 1. it is a place where Jesus preached, because it was a heavily trafficked caravan area; 2. it is where, according to Judaism, the Messiah is supposed to descend and begin the End Times; 3. it is where a very large number of Orthodox Jews are buried, because they want to be close to the Messiah when the End Times finally arrive. Apparently Orthodox Jews living in New York City have their bodies shipped to Jerusalem to be buried on the Mount of Olives.
After an hour-long wait, yet another metal detector led us to the Temple Mount, where we saw the al-Aqsa Mosque (!) and the Dome of the Rock (!!!). I’m not the first person to say this, but the Dome of the Rock is gorgeous. I guess we all got pretty excited about it, because we slowed down a lot, and then Dawoud scolded us: “You are wasting your time for nothing. I live here. I can go to these places every moment. We do not have time for you to be chatting. You can chat back at the hotel.” That shut us up.
We hurried on through a market and to the Christian Quarter and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the holiest site in Christianity, especially for Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians. It’s filled to bursting with holy relics, religious symbols, paintings, gold statues, mosaics, frescoes, tombs, and general shiny baubles and priceless artifacts. To name a few: it contains the Golgatha, which is the mount on which Jesus was crucified; the stone on which Jesus was supposedly prepared for burial; several rocks that Jesus sat on at one point or another; and (according to some interpretations) Jesus’ tomb. There were a lot of people there. All in all, I found it overwhelming. The Western Wall, though just as holy, had a much different effect on me. Maybe it’s because I feel closer to Judaism as a religion. Or perhaps it’s because the Western Wall seems so simple, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so ornate.
After a brief lunch at a café, Dawoud led us on to the Jewish Quarter and the Armenian Quarter of the Old City, finally ending up at the Jaffa Gate. We said goodbye to Dawoud (sad!) and boarded the bus to our next destination: the offices of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), which was located in a more affluent part of Jerusalem. There we met a young woman named Sarah, who would be our next tour guide. Sarah, an Israeli and United States citizen whose grandmother was a Palestinian Jew, led us on a bus tour of a few notable places in Jerusalem: the Green Line border, an Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem (which the Israeli government currently considers to be part of Israel, even though international law states otherwise), and the Separation Wall (aka Security Fence, Apartheid Wall, Segregation Wall, or just “The Wall”). This tour was particularly fascinating, albeit sobering, and eye-opening in a number of ways. Seeing, and touching, the Separation Wall really brought things home for me. The particular section we stopped at is a place where the wall actually divides a whole town in half. This is not an uncommon occurrence; the wall frequently divides Palestinian towns, or cuts off villages from their fields so they have no access to their crops.
After saying goodbye to Sarah, we spent a brief amount of time at the Sabeel Center for Palestinian Liberation Theology, which is a Christian volunteer organization sympathetic to the Palestinian side of things. They had a lot of interesting things to say, but we were all quite jetlagged at the time, so half of us were nodding off by the end of it–not out of disrespect, just sheer fatigue (and it wasn’t just the students–I think I saw Teacher Kevin shut his eyes at one point…). Finally, around 6:00, it was time to head off to the hotel to eat dinner.
Just a quick anecdote before I wrap things up: After dinner, a group of us elected to take a nightly stroll through the Old City, just to see what we could see. With Teacher Eric and Teacher Jay trailing behind us, we wandered around, perusing the few shops that happened to be open, looking at all the trinkets and souvenirs and delicious pastries. At one point we ran into some small Arab boys playing soccer. They began to follow us. “Where do you want to go?” they asked. “Shops,” I replied. “Shops?” one boy repeated. “This way, all closed, he said, motioning up one winding street.. “This way, open.” In the spirit of adventure, we followed the boys for about ten minutes, up through a fairly deserted residential area, finally ending up in the Christian Quarter where–lo and behold–a single shop was open. Upon reaching our destination, the boy held out his hand. “Money,” he said. I can’t say I was terribly surprised at this. Why else would they help a bunch of dumb-looking American tourists? We tried to fend them off, but they trailed us for a few more blocks until someone in our group finally handed them 10 shekel.
Anyway, I think we all slept like rocks last night. We are now on the bus to Givat Haviva, an Israeli community and learning center northwest of Jerusalem, where we will spend the next two nights.
It’s been quite the adventure up until now. Inshallah you are well, wherever you all are–I, for one, am in great spirits.
Talk to you soon…
Shalom,
Laura

Exciting Firsts with the Dolphins, Sea Lions and Birds

On By Mary KateIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I’ve got some stories to share from my first three days at DRC! I’ll go by animal:

Dolphins:    “Our middle name is research,” literally, says DRC’s public speaker Julie, and yesterday I got to see my first dolphin research session. DRC is the only facility that allows the public to view their research sessions, so this was quite a treat. Talon, a 19-year-old male, can recognize sequences of numbers from 1 to 5. He ranks in the 90th percentile and has a very high success rate — when I watched him he only made 2 mistakes! The trainers position Talon in front of a blue board, onto which they lower the numbers 1 thru 5 in a random order. Once he is given the signal, he touches his rostrum (nose/snout) to the numbers in their correct order. Pretty amazing stuff!

Sea Lions:    DRC has 3 California Sea Lions: an 8-year-old male named Kilo, and two “elderly” females, Karen and Renee. The girls haven’t even been at DRC for a full year, and have only recently gotten accustomed to actual bay water (as opposed to the freshwater tanks they were kept in for most of their lives). Today, for the first time, the ladies actually waddled down the stairs into the lagoon and swam around! Karen is older than Renee and has gone completely blind, so she was only in for a little bit before she swam back to her trainer for some fishy treats. Renee, however, who still has some of her eyesight, kept on exploring the lagoon for more than fifteen minutes! The best part was when Renee swam beside one of the fences that separate the lagoons and realized that there were dolphins on the other side. She started barking joyfully, and the five dolphins in that lagoon, Jax and Gypsi in particular, started whistling and cheering her on. It was such a cute exchange!

Birds:    Last but not least I had some fun encounters with our tropical birds. DRC has wild peacocks that roam the grounds, and I was treated to a full peacock feather display yesterday! I never knew that in addition to spreading out their feathers in a brilliant display of color, they shake their hard back feathers to make a rustling noise and make the “eyes” of the long feathers vibrate. Also, the fanning out of the top feathers leaves the lower down feathers exposed, so when they turn around, you can see a big fluff ball of soft down feathers — cute and unexpected! Another bird first was my first conversation with Buck, DRC’s sulfur-crested cockatoo. He’s quite the character, and once he realizes you’re the one giving him treats, he speaks to you! His phrases include “pretty bird!” and “bye-bye,” as well as whistles and other incoherent mumbles. I thought I’d never get him to speak but now every time I walk into the avian hut he’s got a lot to say! =]

Just a few anecdotes from my first couple of days at DRC — I can already tell I’m going to miss this place!

Happy Birthday!

On By Jhewel TrinidadIn Uncategorized2 Comments

As you can probably tell from the title of this blog, today is someone’s birthday, new someone, who was born at approximately 10:20 this morning.

After arriving in this warm, beautiful island at noon on Sunday, I was eager to start my work with the doctor the next day. Unfortunately, the Trinidadian system of bureaucracy, I did not get to actually get any work done until today. The country had just finished celebrating a huge holiday and nothing was opened on Monday. Then, first thing Tuesday morning, I had to go and register my name at the Trinidad and Tobago Nurse’s Council and fill out tons of paper work. All of this was to basically give me permission to enter the hospital and to be able to get all of my information without any hassle from hospital security.

Today was my first day with the midwife, Marcia Rollock, and we spent most of it conducting our first interview. I learned that Marcia is a midwife and a nurse and has been working helping women deliver their babies for 33 years, that’s a long time! She is now the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Midwives Association and also the principal of the Trinidad School of Midwifery. We spoke for about an hour, during which time I was able to see one of the school’s campuses and also speak with a few students.

After the interview was through, I asked about being able to see a delivery and I nearly cried when I heard that the patient whose delivery I was to see had given birth during the interview. I was quite a bit upset, but when I looked through the windows of that neonatal center and saw little Amelia with her mother, all feelings of anger seeped out of my body. She was the most precious baby I had ever seen, only about two hours old, and already fighting to look out of her blanket and smile at the world. I walked over and talked to the attending nurse, and she told me there was nothing more beautiful and fulfilling than helping to bring smiles like the one Amelia was giving her mother into this world.

I did have to wait quite a while before getting anything done, but I must say it was totally worth it. I wanted to take tons of pictures of Amelia, but I was not allowed to since she was in the neonatal unit. I will be allowed to take as many pictures as I want tomorrow, however, when she is moved next to her mother in the maternity ward. So be on the lookout for this little beauty!!

=) Jhewel

Bienvenido a Chile!

On By madisonisinchileIn Uncategorized3 Comments

Hola from Chile!

From the moment we crawled off of the plane into the 88 degree, brilliantly sunny, crisp Chilean air, our trip has been absolutely fabulous. Liz´s aunts greeted us at the airport and immediately rushed us to their goreous farm, although gorgeous now seems an understatement. The farm resembled, for lack of a better name, Eden. The green grass and beautiful house surrounded by acres of peach, grape, plum, and almond trees created a completely surreal environment for the five of us, who, despite our sleep deprived state, could still appreciate the astounding landscape. We ate… and ate… and ate all day, in between napping by the pool in the sunshine. The farm even had german shepard puppies!

Liz´s family treated us with a genuine hospitality that could be unparrelled by any stranger I have ever encountered. They served us left and right, refused to let us help in any way, and offered us anything we could ever need. My first impression of Chilean culture, therefore, was one of complete respect for others, as well as a familial bond that revolved around cuisine. Chileans eat… SO much and SO often.

Over the past few days we have been attending classes at a Spanish language school in Santiago. The staff is all very friendly, as are our classmates. Most of them are adults from Brazil, exposing us to another cultural and linguistical barrier. I have learned so much about both Brazilian customs and cultural as well as Chilean cultural, allowing me to compare and contrast the two with the American point of view. While my class is quite difficult, I enjoy the challenge. I find myself sitting back, enthralled with the conversations taking place around me. Yesterday, for example, my class discussed and debated myraid complicated issues, including homosexuality in society, marrital customs and relationships, and the displacement of people from their land. After every discussion, even the most heated, someone will always say something clever and the tone returns to friendly agreeing to disagreeing. My Spanish is already improving.Even right now I find myself accidentally translating words and phrases into Spanish subconsciously.

After classes each day, we use the metro to explore the city. We have gone shopping at a market called Los Dominicos. Located on a beautiful hill with an expansive park and tremendous view of the looming Andes in the distance, Los Dominicos consists of myraid artisan shops selling everything from jewlery to ducks to wool.Everything was relatively inexpensive, but very fun to get.

We have been having the best time simply walking around and seeing if we end up where we intended to go. While at first we were all very timid about our lack of Spanish, we have all become more confident. I had been very intimidated by feeling so isolated and different in Chilean society, but all of my confrontations with Chileans have been nothing short of genuine. Everyone is very patient and understanding, which is quite a relief.

More adventures to come,

Madison

Jerusalem, Take One

On By benjaminholylandIn Uncategorized1 Comment

It took 9 hours, 58 minutes and 9 seconds of airtime, but we finally arrived in Tel Aviv.  Our first day in Jerusalem was relativly relaxed, with a short bus ride to the hotel (the distances here are amazingly short) and then a walk around the old city after we checked in.  The Old city of Jerusalem is an absolutely beautiful place, and the best way I have of describing it is by quoting one of my friends when she said “why don’t they make cities like this anymore?”  The streets are all narrow stone, are covered over half the time and are swarming with shops.  Each shop is about six feet wide and fifteen deep, and seems like it has more stuf in it than most modern department stores. They are filled with an interesting aroma, a blend of smoke, foods (of an amazing variety), and something I can’t quite place.

Today (Wednesday) we took a rather extensive tour of the Old City in the morning, visiting the Western (or Wailing) Wall, the Temple Mount and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As I am short on time, I won’t go into great detail here, but will just say that the sights were mind blowing.  One of the moments I remember well was when I walked by an Israeli soldier (all over the old city) and realized that the kid was exactly the same age as me.  Were I an Israeli, I would be in his place right now (they have compulsory service requirements).

During the second part of the day, we were given a talk and tour by an organization of Israeli Jews against the Home Demolition policies of Israel.  The level to which Israel goes to control the Palestinian population is truly scary.  One of the most powerful stops on the tour was to get right up to the Wall, called, depending on who you ask, the “Security Wall”, the “Separation Wall”, the “Apartide Wall”, or (if you are me) the “Berlin Wall, Take Two”.  The wall is a massive, ugly slab of concrete toped with barbed wire slicing the landscape in two.

Unfortunately, my computer time is going to run out in about 30 seconds, so I will post this for now and try to promise more to come.

Day One at Echoes

On By MikeIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Today was my first day working as an intern at the Echoes recording studios in Chester Springs PA.

I woke up at about 9:15 AM this morning after sleeping through two alarms. I had ten minutes to get ready, eat breakfast, and head off to the studios, which are about thirty minutes away from my house. Fortunately, I arrived at the studios at the same time as Kimberly Haas, the Echoes’ executive producer. As we walked in the front door to the studios, we were greeted by Manny, the “studio dog”, who would eagerly be keeping me company for the rest of the day. I turned a corner and found John Diliberto perched over a computer keyboard, organizing and arranging various sound files that would come together to build an Echoes broadcast that would be airing later this week. I was then given a tour of the studios.

The recording room, or the “black room” as it is known, is small, but has fit up to nine musicians during one show in the previous years. The walls are covered with echo-eliminating foam, which improves the room’s acoustics greatly. Outside of the recording space sits a console piled high with computers and various recording interfaces. It was fascinating seeing the guts of a radio recording studio. Next we visited Kimberly and John’s offices, which were both adorned with the autographed works of a favorite artist of mine, Roger Dean. If you are unfamiliar with him, he did much of the album artwork for the progressive rock band Yes. His futuristic imagery and beautiful space-age landscapes are absolutely captivating. Next, we visited the room where I would spend most of my day, the archives room. The first thing I saw when I entered the archives was a bulky, twenty-year-old reel-to-reel tape machine. The room was filled to the brim with stacks of magazines and tape reels containing recordings of shows from the analog age. Gazing along the walls of alphabetized tapes, some of my favorite artists jumped out of the stacks, namely Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, Michael Giles, and many others. I was in audio-geek heaven.

My hypnosis was lifted by John’s deep voice, “now, let’s get to work!” My first task was to successfully boot up and clean up a very old computer that had very clearly seen better days. My experience in computer maintenance helped me complete this job quickly. Next, I did some biographical archive work. This consisted of locating and organizing each biographical article sent to the Echoes studios by record labels, so that the people at Echoes have background information on each person they interview. It took me about four hours, including a thirty minute lunch break, to sort through a massive stack of biographies and various press releases that Echoes had received in the past month and a half. It was fascinating to read these articles, especially those that were focused on my favorite artists.

At around 3:30, I had finished my work for the day. Despite the fact that this day revolved around digital housekeeping and organizational tasks, I still had a fantastic time becoming more comfortable in a studio setting and familiarizing myself with the process of radio show production. At the end of the day, John and I reviewed the schedule for the next two weeks. It is clear that the busy work I did today will soon be replaced by more hands-on activities.

In addition to coming in every day at about 10:00 AM, I will be attending and helping out at a few live in-studio, living room, and theater performance events being hosted by John and Echoes:

Friday, February 26th: Phil Keaggy in-studio recording session.
Monday, March 1st: Living Room recording session with Balmorhea.
Thursday, March 4th: Sellersville Theater concert featuring Bill Frisell.

I am incredibly excited to be meeting and working with these globally acclaimed and celebrated musicians.

Some examples of music that appears on Echoes regularly:

Robert Fripp: Soundscaping

Brian Eno: Music For Airports

First Day with the Dolphins!

On By Mary KateIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

“Welcome to the Conch Republic!” said the cheery, cheesy banner at the Key West airport. Claire and I landed in the Keys right about 3:00pm yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. The weather was a balmy 76 degrees, a welcome change from the freezing conditions at Westtown! Unfortunately, that balminess translated into on-and-off rain showers all day today, so after we went through an orientation session, we spent the majority of our day at DRC outside being drizzled on. All is well, though, as the forecast for the rest of the week predicts clear skies. =] 

 Now that I’ve been through a full day, I can give you a better idea of our daily duties. Claire and I start off the day by sweeping off the submerged platforms on which visitors stand when participating in a Dolphin Encounter. Depending on who is given what duty, we sometimes have the responsibility of feeding the tropical birds in the morning. After that, we help out wherever is needed, observing various dolphin encounters and assisting the trainers who run them. We also have the opportunity to structure our day so that we can watch seminars and workshops, or pull research material from DRC’s library. We have lunch around noon, where we eat with the rest of the volunteers and interns. Our next scheduled duty is giving the birds their afternoon snack, around 2:00pm. We then continue helping with dolphin activities until we return to the birds to clean out their dishes as well as the floor of the entire avian hut, at about 4:00pm. We collect trash and recycling from around the grounds and finish up any other tasks that need to be done and leave around 4:30pm. 

Overall, it’s a pretty laid-back atmosphere, but everyone at the DRC takes even the smallest responsibility seriously. I’ve set a personal, albeit somewhat silly goal for myself: be able to identify each of DRC’s 20 dolphins by the end of my two weeks! Take a look at Jax, my first identified dolphin. We’re looking forward to continuing our work with the birds and dolphins and hopefully the next couple of days will be sunny and warm! 

Jax, a rescued, shark-bitten dolphin, one of the most recognizable dolphins at the DRC.
  

Thanks for reading! 

–Mary Kate

Elephants and Adventures and We Haven’t Even Gotten There!

On By torithailandIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Hello!  Sawatdee Kaa!

My name is Tori and I am a senior from Connecticut.  My senior project will be the school-sponsored trip to Thailand, led by T. Sonya and T. Deb.

                My original attraction to Thailand came from T. Sonya’s description of the trip.  She described her passion for traveling and her awe of the diversity of culture and tradition Thailand held.  Being a well-worn traveler myself (I was in five countries just this past summer!), I cannot begin to explain my excitement upon hearing her describe all the wonders that Thailand holds.  And so my decision to go to Thailand was set in stone and ever since, I have been waiting anxiously to go. 

                These past few days between the end of school and the start of my project have been busy.  I am staying at my friend Julia’s house where there is never a dull moment.  We have been shopping for last minute items on our packing lists, hanging out with friends, and we’ve even made a cake!  Inspired by the TV show Cake Boss, we decided to make our very own Thailand Cake!  Pictured below, you can see an elephant (we will be volunteering in an elephant sanctuary), water with a boat (we will be staying near and visiting beaches during our trip as well as visiting the floating marketplace in Bangkok), a zip line (well, we won’t actually be zip lining, but we will make some day trips to see some wildlife), and the beautiful faces of all twelve girls that will be going on the trip.  I hope this explains some of my excitement!

             Above is a picture of everything I am bringing with me to Thailand.  We are only allowed to have two carry-ons, so I had to pack light!  I wish I could say I am feeling a little nervous about traveling with twelve of my classmates for two and a half weeks, but all I can feel is excitement.  I cannot wait for the moment the wheels of the plane lift off of the runway and I am carried away to Thailand.  I have done a fair share of traveling and I cannot even explain how excited I am to be abroad again.  I love the feeling of walking out of my hotel (or hostel!) and walking down the street, being surrounded in a culture so fascinatingly different from my own.  In college I plan on studying international relations.  I have a dream in my heart of peaceful co-existence between nations.  I believe that understanding other cultures is key to international peace.  One of my greatest hopes of my senior project is to strengthen my knowledge of Thai culture so that I may start college in the fall with a great passion for international relations and the world abroad. 

                As I travel, I will be updating my blog with news and pictures about my adventures.  Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy following my blog!

-Tori

The Third Night in the Bahamas….

On By jonbahamasIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Hey guys,

I have been down here for two nights and it has been wonderful. The weather has been unbelievable compared  to back home, it is about 70 degrees everyday. Today it did rain for the part of the day, but we still had a pretty good time. The house I am staying in is really wonderful, it is right on the beach and very comfy. It is literaly eight steps from the ocean and you can hear the waves crashing from everywhere in the house, it is really almost like a dream. Woody’s grandparents are very nice and could not be more generous.

We started our work today at the house by painting an addition that they just added on. We did that for the majority of the day and it was a really fun time working with my friends and getting the job part way finished. After painting we went into town and played some pickup basketball with a few of the locals. It was really fun to play around with them and meet some people from the town. Tomorrow is our first day working at the school, I do not really know what to expect other than playing sports with all the kids.  Other than that I do not know what the school is going to have us do, but whatever they have us do, I am looking forward to it very much.

Other than that not too much has been going on and I write another post soon….

talk to all of you then!

Jon Schauer

Next week in Jerusalem!

On By Laura B.In Uncategorized3 Comments

Hello! مرحبا! שלום!

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Laura, and I’m a senior from Maryland.

My upcoming senior project trip to the Holy Land–Jerusalem, Israel, and Palestine–will be my third time leaving the country. I can’t tell you how excited I am for this trip. Twelve hours from now, I’ll be in the Philadelphia airport, getting ready to board the plane for a 12-hour flight to Tel Aviv. Just thinking about makes me giddy.

My reasons for choosing this particular project can be summed up in one word: exploration. Exploration of new cultures and new people. I am a deeply curious person by nature, and I continually strive to learn everything I can about the world around me. And what better way to learn than firsthand experience? Being a kinesthetic learner as well as natural-born skeptic (I blame my family for the latter), it’s never been enough for me to be merely told about something or to have something demonstrated for me. I have to find out for myself before my curiosity can be truly sated.

But for me, this trip isn’t just about outer exploration. It’s also about inner exploration. I would not call myself a religious person–spiritual is more accurate a term. My mother’s family is Protestant Christian, and my father’s is Jewish. I was not raised to believe in any particular religion or creed, and I had a largely secular upbringing. Yet I’ve always felt a pull towards Judaism–its culture, its practices, its origins. Perhaps this is has something to do with my family’s annual celebrations of Passover. It was the closest I ever got to religious practice as a child, and I loved it. The colorful story of Moses’ exploits in Egypt, the mesmerizing lilt of the Hebrew prayers, and the age-old rituals all spoke to me in a way that any other religion never could.

And so I’ve grown up that way, identifying culturally, though not religiously, with Judaism. For some reason, it always felt closer to me than Christianity, despite the fact that both religions represent equal parts of my lineage. I can’t really explain this, and in any case, this is not the venue in which to do so. Either way, here I am, about to go to the place where both creeds were born. Last spring, seated around the dinner table with my family as we read aloud from the Haggadah–“Next year in Jerusalem!”–it never would’ve occurred to me that next year I would, indeed, be traveling to the Holy Land.

Despite all this, though, I am trying to keep my expectations for the trip as open as possible. There is a rather common phenomenon called “Jerusalem Syndrome,” which is what happens when a person goes to Jerusalem with lofty expectations of what it will be like–they’ll find God, they’ll be reawakened, they’ll find their spiritual calling in life, or something–and finds themselves leaving disappointed and disillusioned. It’s easy to think of the Holy Land as being something akin to a spiritual Disney World, but the truth is far more complex. I hope to avoid Jerusalem Syndrome by keeping my mind and my eyes open at all times.

I’ll document here what I see, hear, taste, feel, and learn, and hopefully try to make sense of it along the way. I originally hoped to post a few photos along with my blog entries, but I doubt that’ll be possible. Rest assured, though, that I will post photos–and lots of them–once I return on March 9th.

You blog readers are lucky, because for this particular trip, you get not just one, but two different reports–from me, and from Ben, whose first entry is posted below.

Well, I’ve got to go start packing. Thanks for reading! Talk to you soon!

Peace,

Laura