I Have Returned...from TWO TRIPS ALREADY

Shalom all,

It's been about a month since I have been back from Israel, and I realized...I NEVER WROTE A FINAL ENTRY ON THE TRIP! Oh no! However, the trip turned out to be absolutely incredible. I got to swim in the Dead Sea, climb Masada, ride a camel, sleep in a Bedouin tent, make a Bat Mitzvah, get a Jewish name (Shana Avra), experience Ben Yahuda Street, and oh so much more. The trip really did have an impact on me and I will carry the trip with me wherever I go. I am so happy I went when I did, especially now with all of the uprisings in the Middle East, who knows how things are going to play out within the next few months...Regardless, Israel is an amazing country and probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to in the world. I came back with a totally different attitude on things and I thank Israel for that!

I also went to St. Louis for the AFLV convention which was incredible. I learned a lot about leadership within Greek life and how to bring it back to my own campus. It was awesome!

So now, I NEED ALL OF YOUR HELP! I am applying to be a World Traveler Intern through STA Travel which will allow me to travel the world for the summer and I would get to blog about it and take pictures and so much more. It would seriously be a dream come true! So please become a fan at:

http://www.worldtravelerinternship.com/member/gabrielle-rimmaudo/

Go to the page and then click BECOME A FAN at the right hand side of the page at the top. Thanks ya'll!

<3 Gabbie

FINALLY HERE

Shalom friends!

We are finally here in Israel. Currently I am in a hotel in Tiberias near the Gailee Sea (which is the Christian name for it, but I already forgot the Hebrew name of it). Our flight was pretty good...it left from Philadelphia airport. When we got to the airport we met up with our Hillel group so that we could check in all together. There were some other Birthright trips going to, so typical me got confused. I eventually figured it out and found Alli, Alex, and Alex. In our bus group there are also kids from Brown, Ithaca, and Binghamton. Before we left we ate at Chickies and Pete's which is always good. The flight to Israel has two steps of security which is pretty intimidating but it made me feel better about the flight. The flight was like 10 hours long so I watched "Easy A" and "The Social Network" and of course listened to Taylor Swift....I'm not sure if I slept or not, it was kind of like a weird sleep limbo thing going on.

We finally arrived in beautiful Tel Aviv at like 3 pm their time. It's like 65 degrees here which awesome compared to the snow we've been getting. We then took the bus to Tiberias...it was like a 3 hour bus ride but I was passed out the whole time. Also on the bus we met our guide and the guard whose staying with us the whole trip-he carries around a rifle, it's pretty badass. When we got to our hotel in Tiberias we dropped our bags off and ate dinner. Dinner was interesting...I ate hummus and oranges. Yum. We then had our ice breakers and orientation and got to know everyone a little bit better. It was fun...however I'm exhausted now and I need to get up early (6 AM!) to go to Golan Heights which should be awesome and then to a cemetery and the naot shoe factory. So for now...goodnight my friends. I need to pass out.

-Gabbie

P.S This is my picture with my Sprite in Hebrew! HOLLLAAA!

TOMORROW TOMORROW TOMORROW

SHALOM FRIENDS!

AHHH I CANNOT WAIT.

It is now Sunday meaning that tomorrow, MONDAY JANUARY 10th, 2011 I will be en route to Israel. I cannot wait. I am also excited for the Wi Fi in the desert so I can blog from a Bedouin Tent...bahaha. Anyhow, attached you will see yet another flag picture similar to my England one...except I'm not there yet in Israel, but it's totally fine. Alli, Alex, Alex, and me are so ready to take this country by storm. Alright I will post from the airport or something since I'll be sitting around for hours after my intense security stuff. Apparently on flights to Israel besides getting like porno scanned you get questioned like crazy too...FUN.

But I'm mostly packed with my Masada hiking appropriate clothes, kibbutz working clothes, Shabbat dinner clothes, Western Wall conservative clothes and so forth for my TEN DAY TRIP TO ISRAEL!! The day I get back I will be crazy jet lagged and I have to go to the Greek leadership retreat but it's totally fine.

Anyhow, I'm going to go read now, but I can't believe the day is finally, almost here!

שלום (you figure that one out!)

Gabbie

Israel in two weeks, St. Louis in Feb., LA in March!

Hello all!

I hope everyone had a very nice few weeks of holidays between Thanksgiving, Chanukah, and Christmas! I have been extremely busy between finals, work, and then coming home to get my wisdom teeth taken out...it was quite a bummer. However I am extremely excited to be going to Israel in TWO WEEKS from tomorrow! It is seriously coming up so fast and I cannot wait to get over there. The itinerary looks great and includes us going to: Golan Heights, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Masada, Negev, and all of these other really cool places. I cannot wait for the experiences, especially riding a camel in the desert! I feel like that will be wild. I also just got a brand new camera so I will be able to take some awesome pics!

After I get back from Israel less than a month later I will be going to St. Louis for the AFLV conference with Panhellenic Exec. I cannot wait to experience the conference and also see a little bit of St. Louis, should be interesting.

Then in March I will be going to LA to visit my cousin Sandy for spring break! That is going to be incredible. I have never to Cali so I think it's about time ago. Also we will be going to Disneyland!! Yay!

Summertime is still to be determined what I am doing...we shall see though! That's it for now, Happy New Years!

<3 Gabbie

P.S I left you with another old personal favorite photo!