Eilat

2/27-2/28-3/1

So I know I'm a bit behind and haven't written anything about Gadna but I'm working on it. But until i finish up that, i'm just going to move on to what happened next.

 From Gadna we had a nice bus ride to Eilat for sleeping. As soon as we got there of course the first thing we all wanted to do was shower. My roommates were Kira, Maddie, and Gali. Our first night there we went down to the mall and the boardwalk. I went shopping with Kayla and Naomi and we got some really good Ice cream and I got a new wallet. That was Thursday night I believe. 

The next day everyone got up early and went for a hike where you could see three countries. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to go because I wasn't feeling so great but a little rest never hurt anyone. Besides, we joined up with them before the real fun began hahaha. After their hike, we joined our group and all went into a little session on marine life in the Red Sea and on the little reef that we later got to snorkel on. Although the water was a bit cold and it was quite windy which just made getting out freezing, there were some really cool fish and coral to see (not exactly like the Great Barrier Reef if course :P). After snorkeling we just got to hang out on the beach for a couple of hours. Me and Tessa ran strait to the hot showers in the locker room to warm up of course after our snorkeling then we just layed on the beach until it was time to go. Just relaxing there was such a good feeling after having been in Gadna for a week. Then we went back to the hostel we were staying at and had time to get ready for Shabbat. 

On Saturday we got to sleep in late and trust me, we all needed that. We had our usual Saturday morning routine, optional breakfast, all you have to do is be at services at 11. After services and lunch we had a little more time to go walk around the boardwalk before heading back to Tzuba. I went with some friends and we got crepes and ice cream :).
On our ride back to Tzuba, we stopped at Kibbutz Lotan which is a Kibbutz in the Negev that focuses on being eco-friendly and finding new ways to recycle natural and man-made materials. Thats where we had dinner and did Havdallah. The rest of the way back to Tzuba  consisted of a 3 hour bus ride and a decent amount of sleep.
We got back a bit later than we were supposed to and we were all already exhausted. Time to go relax and sleep now right? Wrong! We got our new rooms and roommates and then ran up to the library and lab to go get all of our suitcases. So somewhere probably around 11 or so, the unpacking and settling in began. And not to complain or anything, but we had an 11 hour school day the next day. Yes, a crazy fun packed-no rest- 12 day trip and then right back into school!