Greetings from our first day in Tel Aviv! We have all landed safely and are enjoying our first day in this beautiful country. Today we woke up bright and early for a walking tour around the city of Tel Aviv that ended in the Jaffa port. Our tour guide Jo led the way, while stopping multiple times to explain the historical significance of the places we passed through.

One of the first stops we made was by the old Tel Aviv city hall, which led us to the Dizengoff Square. In the square, Jo gave us a brief history of the city of Tel Aviv, and the meaning behind the name of the city. We even had time for a group picture by the fountain!

We walked by the sanctuary of independence, the hall where David Ben Gurion made his famous speech, in which he declared there would be a Jewish state for the first time in 2000 years. We also walked by the famous Shlush house. The Shlush family was the first family to move outside the walled city of Jaffa, and live in the future neighborhood, Neve Tzedek.

The Shlush house was across the street from the apartment of Shai Agnon, an Israeli Nobel Prize winner, whose picture is on the 50 shekel note. We eventually made our way to the port, and all went out for an Israeli style lunch at a delicious falafel restaurant. Many of the dishes consisted of shwarma, hummus and falafel… yum. We are looking forward to our dinner tonight by the port, and are anticipating our first day of industry touring tomorrow!

Alexa,
Class of 2016
Toronto