Trekking through Hezekiah’s Tunnel in the City of David and encountering The World Holocaust Remembrance Center during study abroad in Israel.

– Gloria Tesch, SPC Student, Israel Program, May 2019

As the week slowly ends, we all embrace the last day. All of us have now become an inseparable family of friends who remember great times with days and nights of laughter. We all knew it was the last day of our trip… but we tried to leave it as an unspoken thought.

Two weeks in the beautiful country of Israel had flown by so quickly. Today is Sunday and we had our usual breakfast at the hostel, and soon loaded onto the bus. Our bus driver, Sammy, along with our excellent tour guide, Etsik, greeted us with friendly smiles.

The Siloam Tunnel

We began heading down to the streets of Jerusalem, just outside of the old city. This is where we began our first excursion of the day. We walked through the Siloam tunnel (also known as Hezekiah’s tunnel) in the City of David! This was indeed an extraordinary and unique experience. All of us formed a single file line and began strutting through ice cold water.

Knee deep, we pulled out our flashlights and explored the dark tunnels. We had to crouch down occasionally and get through the tight spaces, but the entire exploration was fantastic and well worth our time. When we reached the end of the tunnel, we saw light and emerged into the bright sunshine of Israel.

Remembering the Holocaust

Shortly after regathering and talking about our experience in the tunnel, we hopped back on the bus and headed toward Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center. Before our tour we were greeted by David, who is the Vice President of our Sar-el tours. He spoke to us about some history of the foundations of this museum and other important influences.

Then we began our tour of the holocaust museum. It was saddening to see such a horrific event that happened in Europe. We all braced ourselves for the images and artifacts of such an event. We took some time to ourselves to walk through the beautiful museum.

Visiting a local market

After we had taken our time admiring the old photos and videos of the past (some with tears in our eyes), we left to go to a local market. At the market, we tasted some local food and gathered up our last souvenirs. We spent about an hour and a half walking around the market place. Our group met up again at 6:00 pm to head back to our hostel. Holding bags of souvenirs, we showed each other what we had purchased.

The last meal we all had together as a group was filled with laughter and good vibes. Shortly after, we sat together and talked about our experiences as a group and our favorite parts of the trip. It was difficult to describe which day was our most favorite, since every experience was unique and different!

Although this trip has officially ended, it will never end in our memories. We had all gained knowledge, new experiences, lifelong friends and unforgettable memories.

– Gloria Tesch, SPC Student, Israel Program, May 2019

Thank you for sharing Gloria!

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Cover image: Hall of Names at Yad Vashem. Photo by Jotpe, Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0].