Goodbye Israel

By now it’s been a couple of weeks since the conclusion of my Dialogue program in Israel. I’m still here in Israel interning for the company that runs the hostels here, and not a day goes by where I don’t think about the experiences I had for those five weeks. I came away from that one-month adventure with a renewed sense of passion for this land, and a brand new perspective. This Dialogue of Civilizations really challenged my opinions and made me deal with the reality of being uncomfortable and for that I really grew as a person and a student. I came to Israel on this Dialogue as a passionate supporter of Israel, and when it ended I was even more so a passionate supporter of Israel. The biggest difference now is that I am more critical of Israel and more critically aware of the nuances and complications of the conflict here. This Dialogue didn’t really change my professional and academic goals so much as it enforced them. I had become really passionate about Israel after my birthright trip in August 2015, and now I know even more that my future lies somewhere in an Israel-related field.
Study abroad is an amazing opportunity to have new experiences and to challenge your opinions of the world and of places you’ve only ever heard of. For me, I had been to Israel a number of times before participating in this program. However, before this Dialogue I had never set foot in the West Bank. That was a very new experience for me and one that challenged everything I knew or thought I knew about those areas and it was a very humanizing and eye-opening time for me. The single greatest advantage associated with studying for me can be summed up in one word: Experience. It’s one thing to read about the world and to watch movies or TV shows about new places; but it’s an entirely different thing to actually see the world yourself. You can’t form a real opinion about a place without being there yourself and you can get the benefits of experience new things without actually experiencing them.
It’s incredibly difficult to pinpoint one particular aspect of this Dialogue as my favorite or as the most meaningful, because I had so many experiences, but what I really took away from this trip was a huge amount of self-growth. I exercised so many internal muscles and had to deal with so many experiences that made me uncomfortable and even angry, and for that I am grateful. Being exposed to things you don’t like helps you to grow and mature and learn how to be a better listener and a wise audience.
I would absolutely study abroad again, given the chance and the right timing. I think it’s an absolutely invaluable experience and one that every single student should get before they graduate. I want to come back to Israel again of course, but I think I would benefit from traveling somewhere else and my first choice is New Zealand! It looks absolutely beautiful and aside from its beauty, I know next to nothing about it. My biggest piece of advice to future participants of any dialogue is simple. Pack light. Pack way less than think you need and you will still probably have too much. Pack light and I promise you will not regret it. Happy travels!