Jerusalem + Tel Aviv

Mia Tortolani
Jan 14, 2017
2 min read

Coming at you live from Vietnam: The story of two American girls surviving (barely) and thriving (almost) in Israel! Watch the video and if you actually care what I have to say there is some nonsense below.

Highlights: crashed a birthright trip, met a racist dude, made some friends and rode their horses, accidentally hiked a mountain, knocked over holy water in Mary's tomb, floated the Dead Sea, witnessed the terror attack (!!)

Jerusalem:

Day one: We thought melatonin would help us adjust to the time zone. Instead, we slept 18 hours and missed our first day in Jerusalem. A pro tip for the girl on the go: sometimes it’s easiest to just smile and nod through the awkward language barrier. Food eaten: LOTS of bread and cheese, shwarma, shakshouka, hummus, GROSS beer, schnitzel, some dank milkshakes

Tel Aviv:

Basically the Jewish Miami, right? I only had about a day and a half here in total, but what I saw was AWESOME! Tel Aviv, right on the Mediterranean, felt like a completely different world than Jerusalem. Between the beautiful buildings in the sky and the Mediterranean Sea on the horizon, I could imagine myself kicking back with some friends and a beer (except I don't drink because I'm not 21 yet, duh!). We adventured at the Jaffa Flea Market, touched the water of the Mediterranean (well, only Audra actually – I stood, petrified, next to the “No swimming” sign and watched), walked around the ~trendy~ neighborhood, spent a ridiculous amount of time looking for parking, and ate ourselves sick! We also successfully completed our mission for cool leather bracelets and actually ended up having some custom made, BOOYAH. Adventures aside, this trip provided an eye-opening perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a close look at another culture.

Observations from the flight to Asia: Russians are VERY loud and WHY IS EVERYONE GETTING UP AND MOVING AROUND SO MUCH? People are walking down the aisle two at a time aggressively bumping into my precious aisle seat personal space.