Yom Kippur

4:40- Candle Lighting
I had a good beginning to Yom Kippur because I finally learned how to light a match.  The first time I lit it, I was so surprised that I dropped it... but luckily I dropped it into water.
4:45- Kol Nidrei
Our minyan was made up of ten men (one kohen), and 200 women.120 of the women were students in the school, and the rest were teachers' families and alumni.
8:30- Shani Taragin
We were very privileged to have Shani Taragin come speak to us. She spoke about the work that the kohen gadol does on Yom Kippur and where we see that in our tefilah.
9:30- Bedtime
There were other speakers afterwards but I was too tired to stay to listen to any more.  There was one other Rabbi who spoke and then Rav Milston, the head of our school, taught until around 11:30. My roommate, Hadassa, actually went down to the kotel and she said that there people who were actually sleeping there.

5:45-Alarm Went Off
I didn't actually get up then, but I got up about 15 minutes later when it went off again. I woke up my other roommates because for some reason they didn't hear the alarm, got dressed and then went to shul.
6:30- Shacharit
I was surprised and happy to see that more than half of the girls showed up on time. Almost everyone else came within the hour. It was amazing! The davening was really nice because there was so much singing.  It was also really nice that even though there were girls from all around the world, we all still knew most of the tunes.  Everyone was really into it and the atmosphere  was very spiritual.
11:30- Mussaf
Rav Milston was the chazzan and at one point, right in the middle of praying, he started singing a random song.  Everyone joined in together and we all sang the song over and over again.  After a while, he started another song, and we all just sang for over 15 minutes.
2:45- Mincha
Nope, we didn't get a break... but it wasn't so bad because it went by very quickly and it didn't feel like time was dragging on. I was also happy because almost every other year, I miss when they read Sefer Yonah, and this year I got to hear it.
4:30- Ne'ilah
Everyone was still going strong in the last hour of Yom Kippur.  There was this feeling in the air of everyone being there, just standing there together, saying the same words, wanting the same things.
5:40- End of Fast
We all ran/ walked very quickly to the dining room to get food.  When we got there.. there was food, but very little.  There was just some cookies and some grapes.  We got over it quickly though because we just had such a great day.
Yom Kippur in Israel, in Midreshet Harova is very different then at home.  I can't really say that it was so much better here because there is a little part of me that does miss the routine back at home, but I am having the best time here.  Shalom V'lehitraot!