Where in the world is Rachel

Tel Aviv was hot and humid! But the coastline was amazing!! We spent most of our time at the beach, mainly because it was just to hot to walk around the city. Another friend from Poland, Pete, ended up coming to Israel with us! Joanna and I were extremely glad he was with us, especially for our Jordan adventure! Tel Aviv did start off a bit rocky since the person we were supposed to stay with initially was super flaky and it fell through. Luckily, Joanna's friend Dana was more than amazing and allowed us to stay with her and her family on VERY short notice...like 3 hours notice! We loved spending time with Dana and Galit and their adorable children! The baby twins were the cutest little girls in the world and Guy, he is going to be such a heart breaker one day!

While in Tel Aviv we did check out some sites like Carmel Market, Neve Tsedek, Jaffa, Rothschild Blvd., and the art museum. We also ate a lot of falafels and kebabs. Nothing to exciting happened while in Tel Aviv, other than Shabbat dinner at Dana's. We ended up watching the kids so Dana and Galit could go to Shabbat dinner downstairs, but the kids were terrified of us...I concluded that it was because we didn't speak Hebrew. Anyways, after the kids were calmed down Dana and Galit brought us some food from Shabbat dinner and it was delicious!!! We were sad to say good buy to Dana and the family, but after a few days we had to head north to Tivon to visit Gal and his family! :)

The rest of my time in Warsaw was rainy and cold! But I did get to go to the Uprising Museum, which was really cool. It was the other side of the story...the story behind the Polish people fighting against the Nazis. I hung out with Joanna and met some more of her friends at different places. I ate some perigees and drank some delicious herbal teas. Overall, it was a wonderful time in Warsaw with Joanna. Tonight we are going to this restaurant where they sing and dance traditional Polish folk music! It should be a wonderful last night in Poland! It is off to Israel tomorrow, which includes an overnight layover in Budapest and an afternoon arrival in Tel Aviv on Wednesday! I'm so excited to start the last leg of my trip in Israel, especially with a friend!!

The day I went to Auschwitz/Birkenau was actually a bit of a dreary, cold, rainy day. I think it was suitable for my trip. Auschwitz has been turned into a large museum pretty much, but it was still a powerful experience seeing all the different exhibits and the buildings where thousands of people were forced to stay. The hardest thing to see was all the clothes for children that were found in the concentration camp. I still can't believe how many people lost their lives there. The other surreal moment of Auschwitz was walking through one of the gas chambers and crematoriums. I can only imagine the fear, anger and anguish that was felt by everyone at those camps. The visit to Birkenau was even more surreal for me. Birkenau has been pretty much preserved as a concentration camp with the barracks still present, for the most part. It was such a LARGE area with so many barracks. It was jaw-dropping to see how large it was and to think about how many people were ruthlessly and pointlessly killed there. Visiting these two locations made me realize the reality behind these concentration camps and the mass extermination of not only Jewish people but of anyone the Nazis wanted to kill. Visiting these locations I think is an experience everyone should have, it helps put everything into perspective. It helped me feel such gratitude for those who fought for those who could not defend themselves. I heard amazing stories of selfless individuals who would smuggle Jewish children to safety and would volunteer their life in place of another. Amazing experience visiting these locations.

On a lighter note, I met some nice people during my different tours in Krakow. I met this nice girl named Lala who was from Vietnam, studying in Singapore but doing a foreign exchange in Spain for a few months and was now visiting Krakow. It's been very interesting meeting a wide variety of people with such different backgrounds and stories! After a few days in Krakow, I hopped on a train and headed to Warsaw to meet up with my friend Joanna! The train ride was also interesting. A nun sat across from me and we spoke in Spanish for a long time. Apparently she is from Slovakia, but served in Peru for 8 years and is now in Poland for the next couple of years. She was very friendly and even shared her food with me! :) Poland has been a great experience so far!