October 24, 2013

Today was an interesting and very Israeli day. I had class from 10-2 and them came back to the dorms and relaxed a bit. After that, Alona and Paige and I went to an IDF (Israeli Defense Forces -- the Israeli army) panel on an army base. It was my first time being on an army base, so it was really cool and interesting to see what it looked like. I was actually really surprised, I expected more people to be walking around and I thought that it was going to be more like an American army base and all muddy and have obstacle courses set up everywhere. I later realized that the reason why it was so empty was because it was a day base, which meant that all of the soldiers left at night and went home. At the base, we went into a room for every section of the Israeli army -- paratroopers, the navy, the intelligence unit, the air force unit, and the medical unit with the doctors and paramedics. A group of about ten or fifteen of us from the oversees program at the University of Tel Aviv (the program I am in) went to this army base. For each unit, a soldier would tell us about it, tell us a story form them working in it, and show us pictures or a video or things used in each unit. All of the soldier were real soldiers and actually in these units that they were telling us about. It felt really real and official to be on the base, talking to soldiers, and learning about their positions. After hearing about all of the army units, we walked around the base and saw a real iron dome, an old navy boat, some army trucks, and a real tanker. The group of us all climbed onto the tanker and got a picture. Some of the Israeli soldiers got in the picture with us too. It was a really cool way to spend the afternoon! After seeing all of the units and hearing about what they do, I think that if i had to choose one to be in, I would want to be apart of the navy. It seems really cool and "fun"and not as dangerous because the girls are not actually fighting on the boats.