The morning of the 10th of June, our MIT extension group ventured to the Tel Ha Shomer area to a ground forces Army base for the Israeli Defense Force. To our great delight, we were taken on a tour of the Chemical Syntheses Center, which is literally the only chemical army base center in all of Israel. This particular place was even more interesting because it works directly with the U.S. TSA to protect against undetectable homemade bombs that could penetrate airport security.

Yesterday,we went to two exciting companies in Jerusalum, Voiceitt and OrCam. Voiceitt is working on apps to help people with impaired speech, motor disorders, and degenerative conditions by empowering them to communicate. They have two projects, talkitt and moveitt: talkitt takes in impaired speech and outputs coherent speech and moveitt allows users to move a curser using their voice. OrCam developed a camera device that can be attached to glasses that allows blind and visually impaired to "see".

"I felt at home even though I was in a different country. I felt comfortable with people I had just met only five days ago."

Unforgetable sights and memories!

Although we were all exhausted after a strenuous day of travel, we were able to adventure through a nature preserve and catch a glimpse of a beautiful waterfall. Along the way, we made numerous stops to help strengthen our understanding of Israeli culture.

It made hitting the snooze on our 3:00 alarms a little less tempting. Hiking up the snake path under a full moon, which flooded every ancient crevice filled any void in our motivation. Some of us were ascending in groups, listening to Miley's "The Climb" while others chose a more solitary and peaceful journey.

We enjoyed a guided tour of the museum, but we wrestled with emotions as we made our way through graphic and powerful exhibits. Our tour concluded with a debrief and reflection period where, in small groups, we shared our feelings of grief, sorrow, hope and optimism.

So far, the trip has been amazing and I am excited for the next few days, yet sad it is coming to an end.

It was so moving to stand on the top of a cliff overseeing the Kinneret, as our hearts all started to sing in unison whilst overcome with overcome with beauty of the view.

"We got the chance to swim in the Mediterranean, eat gelato, and see an incredible off Broadway show that is originally from Israel. The show was so funny and awesome it kept us laughing the whole time."