For those of you who don't know, I am about to leave the comforts of the United States in order to spend ten months as a volunteer teacher's assistant in Israel. In a few short weeks, on August 25th, 2012, I will begin my journey with a very long flight from Miami to Tel Aviv. I will spend one night in Tel Aviv with some of the other teaching fellows in the program before we make our way to Netanya, our home for the next ten months. I will warn you now, I am not much of a blogger, so please bare with me.

Many people have asked why I would leave to go to Israel for so long, especially when it is so unsafe. Well, I'd like to address that right now. Yes, Israel definitely has problems going on with rockets and other dangerous incidences that have occured. For those of you who know nothing more than the violence that is displayed through media, I hope to show you another side of Israel. Israel is so much more than the dangerous place that you see in the media. Israel is an incredible country with amazing and welcoming people. It is a place filled with history and beauty. You can feel the pride of the Israeli people when talking about the country. It is home to them, but it is also home to me. Now, I ask you, why wouldn't I want to go there for ten months? In addition to teaching English to underprivileged youth, I will be working on a side volunteer project and learning conversational Hebrew through intensive Ulpan lessons. There is so much to be discovered while I'm in Israel and I cannot wait to start the adventure that is to come.

I will try to keep you all updated often with blog entries and photos, so keep an eye out! If you would like to keep in touch with me personally, you can always email me at [email protected]!