Day Three: On to Tiberias!

We all woke up extremely hungover and only had about four hours of sleep. We grabbed breakfast in the hotel and broke up into small groups to discuss what we hope and intend to get out of this trip. To me this trip to Israel is a blessing. It's hard to put into words how I feel when I come to this country. A deep connection to the people and the land. Every time I'm here I take in every single moment. I honestly dread going back to the states. I opened up social media today to see my friends back in the states doing the same thing they always do; posting pictures, out at bars, being materialistic and it makes me sad. I don't want to go back to that. I want to stay here, live in the moment, and feel extremely grateful.

We then made our way on a two hour bus ride (great nap) to Tiberias which is northern Israel. We stopped at a place called Burgeranch. I got a grilled chicken sandwich hoping it would be like Chik-Fil-A (dream big), it was meh. We put on our swimsuits and hopped in a raft on the Jordan River. It was nothing like what I expected. The waters were very mellow, almost no current. And completely littered. I got out and walked the boat in the shallow rocky water anyways because it was so hot and I wanted to get in. The river was a 3 mile trek; and the only bumpy white water was the last five minutes.

Our hotel in Tiberias is absolutely beautiful, King Solomon Hotel. We are on the 12th floor with an amazing view of the Kineret (Sea of Galilee). It's right on the water. We had a group dinner at the hotel and then walked to a popular outdoor bar called Choco Bar. The walk was a very far walk, like 40 minutes. We ordered hookah and Goldstar beers and then we wandered to a Pizza Hut to split a pizza which tasted sweeter than American Pizza Hut. We walked back which was all hills, the boys took their shirts off because it was such a tough walk (Harvard Stadium was great conditioning for this). I cheered them on and we made it safely back to the hotel.