Perfect Day

This day was one of my favorites of the trip so far. We woke up early to travel to a hot spring close to the border of Jordan. It was a brisk morning, not necessarily perfect weather to go swimming. Nonetheless everyone was very excited to see what a hot spring was like and to spend time together. We arrived at the spring, changed into our bathing suits, and stepped into the warm water. It smelled of sulfur, but we barely noticed it because of the amount of fun we were having. We found a pool off to the side that had multiple waterfalls that an individual could sit under and enjoy the warmth. 

We then drove to Tel Aviv, had lunch in the hotel, and relaxed a bit. We then made our way to a local cinema where we learned about different Jewish filmmakers, including Nancy Spielberg. I got the chance to watch parts of her film about American pilots who helped Israel fight for its independence. The film was very inspirational and showed how a little extra help goes a long way. After the film, I ran into some friends from college, including my freshman year roommate Jackie. It was so fun to see them and randomly run into them in Israel. 

We then learned about different programs that allow Jewish Americans to come back to Israel post-Birthright. Afterwards, we saw a concert of a popular Israeli band and about 1000 people were singing and dancing together. This was one of my favorite moments of the trip. After this event, we had an independent dinner inTel Aviv close to our hotel, which had an ocean view. A group of us went to a local restaurant and had excellent shawarma. We then had the opportunity to walk around the city for a few hours and hang out with the group.