Traveling to new places is something that many would like to do, but so few actually get to experience. It’s especially hard to get away for high school students because of busy schedules. Though for ten days, a group of students from Westside High School were lucky enough to have an opportunity to visit a far away country, Israel.

“We were all super tired when we first arrived at Israel because of all of the flights, and it’s an eight hour time difference,” Senior Sophie Budwig said. “It was a big culture shock right when we got there, our first meal was very different from what we usually eat in the United States.”

Ten Jewish Westside students took the trip to Israel, and heard about the opportunity through their temple, Temple Israel.

“We had been planning this trip for two years,” Budwig said. “All of the people who went go to class at Temple Israel every Wednesday night, and we talked about what we were going to do, what we are going to see, and how we could connect to all of it.”

Budwig and many other students traveled to Israel over winter break, and stayed in a total of four different locations while exploring many different parts of Israel.

“The first night we stayed in Akko (one of the oldest cities in the world), but we mostly stayed in Jerusalem the rest of the time,” Budwig said. “We also stayed in the desert one night in an army tent, which was very different. That day we rode camels in the desert.”

The group had experiences and made connections during this trip that they will never forget.

“We stayed with Israeli teens that were our age for two nights, and that was definitely my favorite part of the trip because for us American students Israel is just a place that we talk about and research, and for them it’s their home and they know all of the good places to go, and eat and such,” Budwig said. “It was just shocking how differently they viewed Israel than we do.”

The students traveled all around the area, making stops at some of the most important tourist attractions in Israel.

“We went to the Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, and it was really powerful,” Junior Seth Norton said. “We also saw the Western wall (a place where many gather to pray), and it was cool to see all of the commoners there and how different it was from the United States.”

Although there were only Jewish students that traveled to Israel, both Budwig and Norton believe that the trip should be available for anyone practicing any religion that wants to go.

“I think that this trip should be supported at Westside High School because it’s not just Jewish people that have roots in Israel, Christians, Muslims and other religions do too,” Norton said.

The time they spent away from home in the holy place of Israel was a life changing experience for those that went.

“You really can never stop learning about yourself,” Budwig said. “When I went to Israel for the first time a few years ago I kind of thought that I had learned everything that I wanted to learn, but when I went back this time I went to so many new places and learned new stories and more about my roots. I think everyone should go, because it’s a really important place for everybody and a huge part of history.”