Israel: A New Perspective (By Ethan)

As our time in Israel is coming to and end, I am only beginning to realize how lucky I am to be here. I never used to believe people when they would say that Israel can change you but now I'm beginning to believe it. I doubted it at first because for the first week we were only seeing things through "tourist glasses" by going to all of the sights and strips that were meant purely for tourists. In my opinion I felt like I was just on vacation. 

But as soon as I came off the van too Emek HaHula school, those glasses suddenly came off. I finally got to see Israel through an Israeli's perspective. It was in these 5 amazing days through life on a kibbutz, jeep rides and amazing sights that I finally opened my eyes about Israel and in my opinion, I think it changed me. 

When I arrived at the school I immediately knew something changed. They all spoke to me In Hebrew with very little English this time which can only be fair because when they came to us we spoke no Hebrew to them. I started getting used to them speaking in Hebrew and was improving on my vocabulary daily. I think that these few days finally made me understand why people say that Israel has an impact on you.