I made it to the Holy Land

After way too many hours of traveling- 29 (with the time changes) to be exact- an eruption of clapping broke out as our humungous plane finally touched Israeli land.  What a sigh of relief.  Not only because the moment we've all been waiting for had finally come, but also because I honestly had very little faith in this ridiculously large aircraft's ability to remain airborne. Nonetheless, we landed. And we did so safely at that.  I must add that immediately after landing the head flight attendant started speaking in Hebrew, which truly threw me off as I was waiting for the "Welcome to Ben Gurion Airport. Your baggage can be claimed at carousel 3. . ."

And so the journey began.

When I finally got to baggage claim I was most definitely expecting my bags to be readily available because of my extended plane-stay due to the hundreds and hundreds of flyers aboard El Al flight 2 sitting in rows ahead of me. But also due to the hundred and hundreds of flyers aboard El Al flight 2, there were like eight-trillion suitcases which took a long while to dig through.  Eventually, though, my free baggage cart was loaded up with baggage of all shapes, sizes, and weights and I was lucky enough to head through the exit to a very surprising surprise.

A warm, hug-full, unexpected welcome by three of the Jacobson family members.  That was excitement and happiness at their finest.

After a while of hanging out in the airport the other 11 Bar Ilan Israel Experience Early Start students and I headed outside into the humid heat to find our bus.  When we finally did, Rabbi Bryks (the head of our program) told us that we were only about 20 minutes away from campus so we headed out. When we got to the campus, we received room assignments and keys.  My new roommate, Miriam, and I attempted to begin to organize our stuff, but it became very clear that a trip to a store with plastic drawers and shelves was very necessary.  Thank goodness that is happening tomorrow!

We had orientation, delicious make-your-own shawarma lafa or pita for dinner, more orientation, a quick trip to the grocery store, and an evening bonfire.

I must say that despite the overload of jet-lag and totally warped body clock, all is going well.  I'm excited to have a full day tomorrow, and possibly even more excited to get a long night's sleep in a real bed tonight.