Ten students in the Global Studies and World Languages Academy at Tallwood High School have been selected as Youth Ambassadors in an exchange program organized by the American Israel Friendship League (AIFL). After a week in Virginia Beach, the Youth Ambassadors from Israel and Tallwood met other Youth Ambassadors from across the country in Washington, D.C. and traveled to New York City and then back to Israel, to stay with host families and experience their culture and customs.Two Tallwood Youth Ambassadors, Katelyn Gallagher and Zoe Hollander, have been documenting their time on this trip. This is the fourth in a series of posts from them. Follow along and read about their journey of a lifetime. Stay tuned for the final post when the bloggers arrive back home.
By the time we reached Tel Aviv, the five American delegations had become closer friends than we thought we could become in such a short time. It wasn’t exciting because of the sites or the fact that we actually had better food, but it was more in the little moments where we were all together.
We had the chance to explore old Jaffa and see the evidence of how the old port affected the area surrounding it. When walking up the steps in old Jaffa, we could feel the history behind the 2,000-year-old steps. There was phenomenal street art reflecting the relations between Arabs and Israelis made by a collaboration of Arabs and Israelis revealing the struggle in a most peaceful way.
I found it interesting how even though in the same country, cities just an hour or two away could be so different. When going to Jerusalem, the capital, and then Tel Aviv, the modern capital, it was immediately evident that we had practically entered a new world. The first one with a massive amount of magnificent holy monuments and in just a mere hour or so, we had arrived in a city very much like Miami and NYC. Upon arriving at night, we caught a glimpse of Tel Aviv night life and were able to all take our first steps into the Mediterranean Sea.
The markets, however, remained the same. Each time we went to a different market they almost always had the same things, but the bargaining was what made the game fun. It gave all the ambassadors a chance to experience something most of us haven’t experienced yet and the culture. Of course, there was always a few changes in the foods sold and the prices, but each market most definitely had its own atmosphere of bustling people that could be compared to a busy street in New York.
The events I remember the most from Tel Aviv are ones like going to the park with five other people from my delegation and even though we were dog tired, it was like we were little kids again. It was one of my favorite times while in Tel Aviv because in that moment I felt the whole trip come together and it made me realize the true purpose of the exchange: I was making friends with people I would have never even considered as an option for a friend before.