Salerhand

So I'm spending 7-8 months in Israel and writing a blog, more for my own keeping because I like to remember everything, but also for any amigos who might wanna take a peek. I'll be working at the Weizmann Institute of Science, enlisting in basic army ...

The Continental Airlines landed gracefully at Newark Liberty International Airport, and within minutes, my feet had officially touched down on United States soil. Standing before the U.S. Customs official, I must have been smiling from ear to ear, ...

Arriving to the Paris - Gare du Lyon train station after the 8-hour overnight train ride (I broke out my sleeping bag as a cover), I fully sensed the magnitude and anticipation of my last day on this 8-month abroad tour. More than one year ago, I had ...

I spent the afternoon hanging out in another volunteer's apartment in Marseilles, waiting until my overnight train to Paris that evening. There were four of us total, and after checking our respective e-mails and taking small naps, we went out to enjoy ...

Working as part of a team to build a shelter in an APARE volunteer workcamp, all the while enjoying the beautiful Lake St. Croix scenery, I should have felt incredibly relaxed on this last leg of my abroad tour. But I did not. I could only think of home. ...

After briefly stopping in Genoa for a few hours (nothing special), my parents and I finally left Italy and continued driving until we reached the famous city of Cannes in the French Riviera. Apart from being the site of the annual Cannes Film Festival, ...

A known vacation spot for celebrities, the harbor town of Portofino comprised a short coastline of Mediterranean sea coves dotted with fancy hotels along its cliffs. The water inside these coves was a tint of blue and green unlike any I had seen before. ...

Cinque Terre seems like the setting for a fairy tale: It consists of five small secluded towns lined up in succession along the Italian Riviera coastline, each town only accessible from the previous one, and only via walking trail. Having rented a car on ...

Our day trip to San Gimignano combined two aspects: 1) An old medieval city which reminded me of Old Jerusalem. 2) The beautiful Tuscan fields and skies people always talk about. Taking the 30-minute bus ride to this Italian relic of a city, my parents ...

Florence in large extent gave birth to the Renaissance period, though perhaps because of my previous travels to other magnificent historical cities, I only considered Florence to be "just alright" as a tourist spot along my tour of Europe thus far. The ...

The existence of the floating city of Venice, navigable only via boating through canals and walking over bridges, almost seems unreal. The map of the city lays it out in a way that is easily understood: Start with a fish-shaped piece of solid land. Now ...

In just three days in Rome, I fell in love not only with the amazing history of the city, but also its vibrant natural "spunk." My first memory ever in Italy actually occurred at the airport, where the baggage claim took over one hour because the airport ...

My first impression of Amsterdam was that of a weekend Vegas-like cruiseline for Europeans aged 18-60 years old. As somewhat of a last-minute trip, with my cousin in Paris having backed out at the last moment, I arrived in the city by train after passing ...

Arriving to France for the first time in my life (besides a one-night stayover from Spain) felt strange. I had spent six months living in Israel, a country with a society and history as complex as any other. Now, I would travel as a tourist in France, a ...

I leave Israel tomorrow after six unbelievable months of living here. Looking back, some of the things I did seem like they happened so long ago, and yet the time feels like it flew by. If someone were to ask me, what did you do in Israel, here is how I ...

With only the last section of the course to go, we came back from Shabbat for Jerusalem week, which would entail much more touring and even sightseeing than the heavy action of the previous weeks. We stayed at a soldier's home near the Central Bus ...

As ridiculous as it sounds, I am the happiest kid in the world in the army here. Some people left voluntarily, some got kicked out, many complain, but I love it. Who knows? Maybe I will be the first person ever to voluntarily join the Israel Defense ...

Upon returning to the army from the Passover break, we spent 4-5 days in the open desert near Sde Boker for "Field Week", which a cousin told me would be the most difficult but also the most exciting part of the course. There, without buildings or ...

Two friends and I drove to the annual Dead Sea Festival of Love concert taking place during the Passover break. On the drive down the winding hills and desert towards the lowest point on Earth, it was neat to see the signs telling us along the way how ...

On the long list of crazy experiences I've tried, enlisting in the Israeli Defense Forces in a basic army training course geared towards foreigners has to fit near the top. Going in, I kept describing it to friends as "fake", but it's basically turned ...