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!

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!

Night before (or day of)..

Hello everyone!

This is my first post on my blog while I am away in Italy for a big chunk of this summer! Tonight my parents threw me a going away party which was a lot of fun. It was great to see a lot of family and friends, plus my sorority sisters Caitlin and Britta who came up to see me from Fairfax! That anxious-nervous-excited feeling you get before depature is really starting to kick in, but I am so ready for this trip and have been since I've been accepted to the program. I'm all packed, ipod is updated, and now all I have left to do is have my last American brunch with my mom at the diner (typical Jersey) and then be dropped off at Newark Airport. My flight leaves around 5:30 pm and I will be landing in Rome around 7:30 am at the Fiumcino Airport (not sure if that is spelt right).

I am so excited to get to Italy. After my trip to Seaside Heights today, I think I've had enough of this fake Italian-ness of "guidos" going on in Jersey and across the country...funny to laugh at, but it gets REAL old fast.

Well off to bed I go as I have a long day of travels. I'll write again soon!

A Presto!

-Gabrielle