Galilee

Once again I apologize for my lack of blogs towards the end of my time in the Holy Land. I have finally gotten to my post about Galilee after being home for a week!

Towards the end of July we headed up to the Northern end of Israel for a 10-day trip to Galilee. We stayed at a kibbutz on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and while there we attended classes, went on field trips, and spent as much time as we could playing in the Sea. Some of the places we visited include Capernaum, Caesarea Philipi, Gamla, Hazor, Dan, Beth Shean, the Mt. of Beattitudes and Tiberias. The 10 days that we spent at Galilee were amazing and I had a blast!

Our first stop was Caesarea Maritime on the coast of the Mediterranean


Ancient Aqueduct
Tel Megiddo
The Church of the Anunciation in Nazareth
Synagogue in Nazareth
This is a sign we saw in Nazareth. Apparently we are all losers.
This is the boat we rode across the Sea of Galilee on
Sea of Galilee
2,000 year old fishing boat found in the Sea of Galilee
Mt. of Beattitudes Capernaum
Kursi. This is where Christ put the legion of devils into the swine.
We ate a fish restaurant with fish caught fresh from the Sea of Galilee. I was too chicken to order the fish for myself, but tried some of it and it was actually really good.
Galilee roomies! Katherine, Jenna, Kristen and Me!
This was a fall that we hiked to on one of our free afternoons
Everybody act like Jonah!
We saw some Russian basketball players at the Jordan river on Shabbat and asked them if we could get a pic
This was our apartment for the trip
Jenna's and My room
Hooray for apartment 127!
Me and Dan at Tel Dan
Me, Jenna and Brother Skinner at Caesarea Philipi
This is how we feel when we are at the Gates of Hell... right behind us
This may just look like I am missing half my arm and awkwardly leaning my body against the wall but in reality I am shooting an arrow at Nimrod's Castle.
The Kibbutz we stayed at was right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee
Akko
El-Jazzar Mosque in Akko
Hookah shop in Akko. Hookah is what everyone in Israel smokes.
Crazy kids jumping off the wall into the sea
Sunset on the Sea of Galilee

Bonfire on the beach with Tiberias in the background across the Sea.
I like this picture because Jenna is in one of the classic field trip positions.
There were cactus plants all over
There was this circle at Mt. Carmel that pointed to all the notable places in Israel.
Bahai Gardens in Haifa
I really don't know what we are doing. I think that we were just sick of the traditional poses.

Blogger Block

I just want to apologize for not updating my blog. After we got back from Galilee, the internet seemed to have took a turn for the worse and so I haven't been able to upload pictures. Still, no excuse for not writing anything.

These past few weeks I have just been trying to soak up every second that I have left here in Jerusalem. Now we are down to one week left! I can't believe how this summer has flown by. I have learned and grown so much and I am so grateful that I have had this opportunity.

This week we are all back in study mode. We have two finals and a paper left before we are all through with our school work. It has been hard for me to focus on my studies, but I hope that I can pull out some decent grades. I have been procrastinating my study time and so tonight I am going to pay the price by setting up camp in the Shekel Shaq, or some other study room, with my gummies, liter of Coke and Ali Baba candy bars. Wish me luck!

Other news includes our field trip to Masada, Ein Gedi, Qumran, and the Dead Sea. Out of all the places that we went, I would have to say that our time at the Dead Sea was the most fun. We floated on top of the water (it feels to strange!) and took exfoliating mud baths which left our skin feeling nice and smooth.

Life here in Jerusalem has been great and I wish that all of you could come and experience this Holy Land for yourselves. I can only hope that when I get home I can sufficiently represent the significance, history and beauty of this land through the sharing of my experiences here.

Oscar Night

Sorry that my blog posts have been getting farther and farther apart, but we have been in Galilee for the past 10 days and I am still trying to catch up on things before we left.

Anyways, about 2-3 weeks ago we had a "Night at the Oscars" where we all had a chance to display our movie making abilities. I personally was able to contribute to quite a few of the movies and it was great to see it all come together and to see the creativity displayed by others as well.

Me and Jenna
Paulie and Juno!
Russell
Me and Chadwick with our Oscars
Mason and Russell, stars of "Tearin' Up My Heart"
Katie Coop!

Herodian Field Trip

This Thursday we went down to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City and took a tour of the Herodian remains of the city. It was really interesting to actually see and visualize how the temple mount looked during the time of Christ.

This is a model of the temple mount during Herod's time

This is another model of the temple mount and city
Southwestern corner of the temple mount

Red Sea and Bethlehem

First of all I apologize for not blogging the past few weeks. I have been kind of busy, but not too bad so I have no good excuse.

Anyways, about a week ago most of our group headed down to the Red Sea on our free day to go snorkeling. I have never been snorkeling before and it was so much fun!

We had about a 4 hour bus ride down to the Red Sea and the AC on our bus was broken so this is our "look how you feel" pic for the ride down
Chilling on the beach and getting fried. My legs got so sun burned.


After snorkeling at coral beach, we headed to another beach in Elat and spent more time hanging out there
Emily was trying to flip gelatto into my mouth.

The Day after we got back from the Red Sea, our entire group took a field trip to Bethlehem. We spent some time at Bethlehem University, the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem, and the Church of the Nativity. On this trip we were exposed a little more to the Palestinian view of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and it was interesting to hear how they perceive the problems that exist in the state of Israel. I have realized that the more I learn and understand about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the more I am drawn to the middle. I have heard many differing opinions and view points on this subject and I have slowly been able to form my own take on this conflict, but surprisingly it doesn't favor either side at the moment. Before coming to Jerusalem, I understood little about the reality of this problem. I have now seen with my own eyes how this reality penetrates every aspect of daily life in this land and I am so glad that my ignorance is slowly disappearing.

In the church at Bethlehem University.
Karyn, Jenna, Amy and Me at lunch

Manger Square and The Church of the Nativity

Dan, Me and Amy
Church of the Nativity
Inside the Church of the Nativity

Katie, Me and Jenna


Inside the cave that is the traditional site of Jesus' birth. The cave is inside the church in the basement.







Milk Grotto Church