As young 20 somethings, going out with locals and seeing the night life helped us to envision everyday life for young adults in Israel. 

We got up before 4 AM this morning to climb Masada and see the Roman-era fortress and other ruins. The hike to the top was pretty intense, but the view and the exceedingly well-preserved ruins were worth it. 

At Mount Scopus, we learned about the Old City, while admiring its beauty.

I'm learning so much about Israeli culture from the Israelis on our trip.

It is my first time in Israel and I am loving every minute of this trip! It definitely feels as though we had known each other for more than just two days! :)

Our Shabbat service this evening was very pretty. It was nice to sing prayers I hadn't sang in years and to find that I still remembered them. After the service and the lovely kibbutz dinner, we split into groups and learned about each other's backgrounds, then played a game based on remembering people's names that had me paralyzed with laughter. 

We spent a magnificent hour singing, splashing, and heading down the waterfall. Just when we thought the day couldn't get any more eventful, it was time to dance. An evening filled with laughter, dancing, and most importantly schvitzing, we had successfully learned 4 dances of our Jewish heritage whereby the majority of us made it out unscathed (one of us got a bit overly excited and hit the deck). 

After breakfast, we got together and played the speed dating game to get to know each other. It gave us time to meet each and get to know each person on the trip more individually. During our break before lunch, we all hung out, throwing around a frisbee or football, listening to music and playing with the dogs that were around the kibbutz. Many of us walked around exploring the kibbutz together. Some of us found a small garden with fresh fruit and an avocado tree. We also found a free outdoor gym. It was very cool to explore.

My day began by waking up at 3:50am in order to watch the beautiful morning sunrise at the top of Mt. Masada. At the top of this amazing mountain, our group explored Masada and learned about the history from this site. We watched as a few of my friends had their bar/bat mitzvah, which was very touching and inspriational! I then went to the Dead Sea where I floated alongside everyone and enjoyed the beautiful salty water.