Tiberias and Birthday Fananza

One of the best things about living in Chicago is that you get the best of both worlds when it comes to summertime fun.  We have a beach AND it's a fresh water beach!  Don't get me wrong, I love the beach in Tel Aviv, but nothing is worse than that itchy feeling you get after being in salt water.  So what did we decide to do, visit the Kineret (Sea of Galilee) naturally!

The Kineret is the biggest source of fresh water Israel has and also has the city Tiberias along the shore line.  So last Thursday 3 of my friends and I made reservations for my first hostel experience and hopped the bus to Tiberias.  After 3 hours and a beautiful sunset later, we got off the bus at the Central Bus Station in Tiberias, Israel.  We walked to our hostel, locked our door, walked around and found dinner.  It was good Falafel.  We walked around some more but ended up on the balcony of our hostel for a real relaxing evening.

This is Tiberias

We had check out at 10am the next day, but that was the best time to head to the beach anyway.  We stayed for a good 2 and a half hours and got to swim and lay out.  Not going to lie, stepping in fresh water was like having a slice of Gilson Beach...except not with as great of a view (picture below).  We again got some falafel for lunch, walked by and in some ruins and caught a bus back home.

I came back just in time Friday night for a shabbat dinner with my roommates.  Dayna had her friend, Cincy, over from Bar Ilan for dinner.  Seriously, nothing like a good family dinner. 

Sunday, I finally got to register for classes for the semester!!  Took long enough, but I do know the latest a class can start is 10:15 am and I'm going to be getting a lot more sleep.  Abroad and I get to sleep in, what could be better?

But the best part about this week was the double birthday celebration!  Apart from my birthday being on Wednesday, it was Dayna's on Tuesday!! A bunch of us went to dinner Tuesday night and at midnight they started singing happy birthday to me.  This random guy on the boardwalk handed us a balloon for our birthdays and we passed the Birthday Torch! 

That day I got the best surprise I could ask for!  I went to the mail room to see if other mail or packages had come through.  To my surprise, the one and only Vicki P had sent me a care package, full of my favorite things.  I know it wasn't for my birthday exactly, but for it to apear on my birthday was pretty damn great.  So shout out to Vicki P for being one special gal!

Later I went to dinner with May and when I came back home to the dorms was surprised by my roommies and a friend with some toaster-oven-chocolate-peanut-butter cupcakes.

And now with having had my last day of Hebrew Class, a month off has never sounded more amazing.  I already have plans to go to Haifa, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and more.  See some old friends and have some life changing experiences. But no worries, my laptop will be on the road with me because there's no way I could go a month without saying anything!