Real Life in Israel

Honestly, it is sometimes very difficult to live in a country away from your family, where the national language is one you don't speak, and you have to go to classes instead of enjoying the beautiful scenery!
However, every time I feel this way about my stay in Israel, something always happens to remind me how much love I have for the country. This time, it came in the form of Savta, my good friend Chantal's grandmother, who lives on Kibbutz Menashe, about half an hour away from the Carmel Mountain. Savta (grandmother) invited us all for some snacks, and then proceeded to tell us all about how she survived the Holocaust. Growing up, Jewish children hear so much about the Holocaust, but it is rare for a survivor to feel so comfortable sharing their experience with people they barely know.
Savta was born in Poland, but was taken to Czechoslovakia during the war, where she saw her sister and parents for the last time as they were being taken to a concentration camp. She worked at the camp until it was liberated, and was smuggled into Italy at the end of the war. From there, she as able to take a boat to what would become Israel, which is where she met her future husband and was able to start her life.
It is stories like this which make me more fully understand how important it is to be in Israel, and how much other people would give up in order to come here. I left her house that day feeling so blessed that I was able to be spending time in a place which so many people yearn to visit, and I can't believe how quickly the semester is coming to a close...!
Another scenario occurred today, June 2. Today there was a state-wide Emergency Alert Drill, in order to prepare for the possibility of a future attack. Although the situation seems terrifying, the siren itself is not scary, and only lasted about a minute. Leading up to it, however, I realized that I have never felt as attached to Israel before, and how I would want to support the state in whatever happens, and I know that the second I step on the plane to leave, I will be hoping that the state of Israel will make it until I can return again, and wondering what she will have to endure in the time between...