Blog #3 Trip to the North

Following Professor Mendelsson's class on Wednesday we packed our bags in the bus and headed north for two nights.  I was so excited to get to see Northern Israel like I haven't seen it before.  We first headed to Jaffa where we walked around the 4000 year old city streets and got to visit the Shimon Peres Center for Peace.  At the Peres Center we were introduced to techniques they have developed to build relationships between Israeli and Paelstinian children.  They showed  us short movies highlighting their strategies which included advances in medicine and sports.  It is extraordinary to think that this group of people is doing so much to improve the Israeli-Palestinian relationship.  For over 15 years they have been helping Palestinians by giving them the medical attention they need, and also they have been organizing football (soccer) tournaments between Israeli and Palestinian youngsters.  These tournaments involve them bringing Palestinian children to Israel and forming friendships with Israeli kids through the love of soccer.  I loved learning about the advances being made towards a peaceful Israeli-Palestinian relationship and would like to find out more in the future about how the program is doing.

We then traveled to Haifa and Akko where we were in for a real treat.  I do not think any of us were expecting the beauty of Haifa and the ancient city of Akko.  There is just something about walking around an ancient city knowing the battles fought over it and how much it has gone through that really has an impact on me.  We were able to go on a boat ride around the bay and then we visited the Bahai Gardens, which were absolutely breathtaking.
One of the great things about our fieldtrips is that while we study at Hebrew University, it is also great that we get to take advantage of being in Israel by visiting other universities.  By visiting other universities' campuses we get to have an idea of how other colleges work that might specialize in something different from Hebrew U.  While we were in the north we traveled to Technion University and got to hear a very interesting lecture about Technion and what advances they are making in the world.  Afterwards we had lunch with Technion students and got to get an idea of what their life is like.

Friday we drove even further north and closer to the border of Lebanon.  It was so interesting to hear how before the war of '67 and Yom Kippur War Israel's territory was referred to as 'the finger' and was such a skinny piece of land.  Due to the fighting in '67 Israel won the Golan Heights and since then have had an advantage over its enemies in the north.  We also went to Mt. Bental and got to go in the trenches and bunkers underground which was so much fun.
So much was packed into those three days that it is hard to just focus on one event or pick a favorite site.  However, if I had to choose, I would say my favorite part was the bus ride home singing karaoke on the bus with Aiden and putting on a concert for the entire group!