pyramids

So we finally made it to Egypt! We pulled in right as the sun was setting - I wish i had a picture of the first sighting of the pyramids...but I was in the back of the bus and it would have taken a lot of effort to weasel through the crowd of us trying to see/take pictures. (Don't worry..i'll steal one from someone who did- it was awesome) You're just driving on the freeway through the city, enjoying the orange sky and BOOM! in the distance you see the pyramids! We were all screaming and were probably a little too excited about it. haha

This is from the "Sound and Light Show" that night... hilarious. The show lit up the pyramids and sphinx as it told the history of them and Egypt in ridiculous narrative.

Doesn't get much better than that :)

me, Gretchen, Emma and Natalie

So far - I don't have any signs of having lice. Thank goodness.

The merchants in Egypt are RIDICULOUS! Pretty much do and say whatever they want and then beg after. haha I should do a post all about them....

"shhh....just go" hahah movie quote anyone?

Ali, Anna, Elissa, Jess, Kinzi, Mary, Gretchen, me, Emma, Kim, Corina- Katie, Natalie and Brooke

Jill, me and Marissa

The first human pyramid of the day, later made an all girls, all boys and all professor one as well! I'm sure no one in the world has thought of doing this picture....right?

My glasses make a fun sort of "where's waldo" game dont they? haha love those things

Check out this guy with Mary and me! haha He is like an Egyptian Yoda!

We saw SO many pyramids that day! So crazy to believe I was actually there seeing them.

Amazing :)

drive to egypt

Sooo before going to Egypt Emma, Gretchen and I stocked up on money and food so that if it was necessary- we could live off of Sprite, Snickers and Honey nut Cheerios...and 1 dollar bills. The food there is pretty dang sketch and they gave quite the scare for the "Cairo quick-step" or "Pharoahs Revenge" if you ate the wrong food if you know what I mean... Can't be too careful.

On the drive from Jerusalem to Egypt we made a lot of stops at different sites. We would drive for a little over an hour and then be at an ancient city or look out of the wilderness. It made the drive seem long..but short at the same time.

Emma and I were sad whenever the classes would have to split and go into their own buses because a lot of the people we usually are with are in the other class. thank goodness we have each other.

That night we stopped at a Kibbutz where the community basically just does everything as a unit and shares everything! Very interesting way to live that's for sure.
This is me showin my love for dairy :)

Jericho

Woah it's been a while! Sorry...buckle up for a lot of posts comin one after another!
We will start off with our field trip to Jericho - the oldest and lowest place on earth.
The city was way smaller than I expected, but it's so interesting to see what it really was like.
Neat.

We went up to the monestary of temptation - Supposedly the rock that Christ was tempted on was up there...I didn't have enough time to see it because another huge group was already in the room. It was quite the climb up there!

Here's the view from the balcony of Jericho (to the left a bit) and some caves people lived in in the cliff. ok awesome!

Eric, Eric, Madison, Jill, Katie, Marissa and I on the balcony

On the way back to Jerusalem we stopped at an overlook of the Judean Wilderness... I have no idea how people survived walking through there. I would get so bored! Not to mention there is no food, water, or shade anywhere!
Me and Emma

Check out that sweet camel! Some people were selling things at the overlook and offered a donkey or camel ride. I caved and bought a sweet necklace that apparantly is made out of camel bone! It was a fun trip!

random pictures with little info

Check out that crazy sunset! I was staring at the window at this one night during my Hebrew class. I even put my back toward the window so I wouldn't get distracted...so much for that.

This is Elias, one of the most incredible, happiest and most loving men I've ever met in my life. He is a Holocaust survivor and had such interesting and inspiring stories and things to tell us. Cutest man ever!

On one of our free days a bunch of us went to a park to play ultimate frisbee! I don't even have to explain how excited I was. It was pretty sketchy though because look at the ground...mostly dirt, rocks, and trash everywhere - luckily no one got hurt and it was a lot of fun! Hopefully we do that again - for my sake. haha I may or may not have been called the Pistol Pete of frisbee...just throwin that out there.

One night we (Emma, Gretchen and I) were bored so we tossed a frisbee in the hall. After a while we got the paper recycle bin and basically played frolf! We got a few more people interested and they came and tried too. For sure a good way to pass the time :)

We got to go the Western Wall one Friday night to welcome the Sabbath with the Jewish community. It is so interesting to see how the different Jewish people celebrated this. Some just sat there praying and others sang and danced! We joined in with some and a few of us put prayers into the wall as well - it was such a neat experience.

Uhh...Don't tell...But Emma and I were SO sad we didn't get candy before....so we ran and got some right before we were supposed to go to the bus. Sort of broke a few rules for those Peachy-o's and straws... but it was necessary and absolutely worth it

This is the Dormition Abbey. One of my favorite buildings I've been to so far - SO beautiful!This was inside the building...one of my favorite mosaics because it was unique. And African. haha I don't know - it was so stinkin' beautiful in there!

That is me and Bethlehem in the background - no big deal

Emma me and Marissa

Tomb of Samuel the Prophet

Basically all of the roofs here are NOT even and are like this. I dont know what Emma and I are even doing either... oops

Jill and me - can you believe this thing?

My new family :)

the gardens

Corina and me looking at the city from Orson Hyde Park

The private Garden of Gethsemane that I think they only let us students go intoThis is from the Mount of Olives (I live down the street) looking at some Olive Trees and the Old City as the sun started setting. LOVE IT!
I cannot believe that these beautiful and sacred gardens are just down the street from where I live! Am I the luckiest or what?