1.09.2012

SHALOM!

First of all, greetings from Jerusalem! I love it here so much and have had some amazing experiences already...but more on that later. :)

The departure: Bailey and I were in the group planning to be at the airport at 5:45 am on Tuesday. We were staying at our uncle and aunt’s house about 40 minutes north of the airport, and our uncle woke up at the crack of dawn with us to be our chauffeur. Thanks Don and Gayla!! After we got through security, we had about 2 1/2 hours until show time. There are 83 people in our group, so we pretty much filled the terminal. I met lots of new people and friends, including a guy from California who had vacationed in Winthrop (my very small hometown) every summer for most of his life--so random! Our first flight went from SLC to JFK, and then we had a 5 1/2 hour layover there until our 10-hour flight to Tel Aviv. It was a looong day. But totally worth it when we rounded the bend on our bus ride and got our first view of the city:











(You can just barely see the shimmering gold roof of the Dome of the Rock in the distance...)





And voila, this is the BYU Jerusalem Center, my home for the next 4 months:




Much love from Jerusalem.

2 comments:

rachelle said...

hoorah for israel!!! you girlies just have the time of your life now would ya? be safe! much love!

Madison Ellingson said...

yay!!!! can't wait to hear and read all your fun stories! love love and miss you!!!!