Israel aka: Yisra'el

I’ll be there in 11 days from now! Last time I visited was 2 years ago. I can’t wait to see my grandma and other family members. Going to tour around this time as well and climb Masada again, swim in the Dead Sea, and visit friends down in Eilat. I’m even looking forward to the heat =)

Okay, I arrived in Tel Aviv and was immediately pleased with the bathrooms. You think its dumb, but as a girl who pees a lot, it was important to me. Tel Aviv was very modern, very much like the west.
Next I spent some time in Tiberias, Nazareth, and Capernaum. The more well known cities have huge (catholic) churches, which I (personally) found gaudy. However in smaller places like Capernaum, we took a boat across the Sea of Galilee that was very authentic looking (no doubt for tourists like me, but I liked it, so it worked).
I spent on day (and no nights) in arab-held Bethleham. It was the only place I visited that was arab-held and their was a checkpoint complete with barbed wire and armed guards on both sides and a “no man’s land” in the middle that you had to walk. Bethlehem was the first (and only) place (in Israel) that I experienced “squatty pottys” So, that already said something in my mind. Surprisingly it was the only place I was afraid and other than the armed guards at the checkpoint, those were the only guns I saw.
Which is unlike the rest of the cities. Every person (male and female) at (I’m guessing) 16 is inscripted into the army, so EVERYWHERE you go, there are kids with big guns walking around. Sometimes they are in uniforms and sometimes not, depending, it seemed, on whether or not they were on duty. They seemed to be on a day and then off for a couple of days but they always had their guns (big machine guns mostly), the kind you’d expect a soldier to be carrying.
Jerusalem, there are really two cities. One inside the other. The inside one is called “Old Jerusalem” and is literally surrounded by the walls you read about in the Bible. So, I stayed at a hotel in Jerusalem, but only went into Old Jerusalem during the day. Jerusalem was the only place that made a big deal about not mixing meat dishes with milk dishes too.
I spent 8-9 days on a tour in Israel and as wonderful as it was, and as much as I saw…I think I could spend a full week just exploring inside walls of Old Jerusalem. That’s why I want to go back.

RAWR! Trip to Israel got postponed until December. If I don’t get to go I’m going to be so disappointed…

I’m going to Israel with Project Interchange for a university media seminar on June 15, 2008. I am so excited – all I have to pay for is my ticket from Cleveland to New York, and they’ll cover the rest. We’re going to talk to politicians and journalists to learn all about the region and the conflict. I absolutely can’t wait!

Hi, I’m planning on spending a month in Israel at Tel Aviv U taking classes, and then staying about a week and a half after. I really want to visit Greece—what is the best way to get from Israel to Greece? I am on a student budget, so also, what is the most cost-effective way to get from one to the other?

Or, are there any other countries that would be better/easier/cheaper to visit?