Eilat!

5:30 AM wake-up to get on the buses for a four and a half hour bus ride to Eilat! We stopped about halfway there for a bathroom break and breakfast.  We got to our first hike at around 11:30.  It wasn't really such a hard hike and it only took us about three hours to get through the whole thing.  Towards the end of the hike we saw something that looked exactly like Pride Rock from the Lion King so we all started singing The Circle of Life.
After that, we went to our hotel to get settled in.  I was in a room with Melissa, Rinat, and Floortje.  We showered and just chilled out until dinner.  Dinner was amazing.  Compared to the food we get at seminary, this was like a little piece of heaven on earth. Now I'm not saying that food in seminary is bad, I'm just saying that they took us to a really, really nice hotel.  Afterwards we went out to go chill on the boardwalk There are all these shops along the boardwalk that we wandered in and around and once we got all the way to the end, we realized that it was getting kinda late and we were really tired so we decided to head back and go to sleep.
The next morning, we woke up, ate an amazing breakfast and got ready for one of the hardest hikes in Israel, Har Shlomo.  We each took our lunch and three liters of water and set out for the hike.  When they first pointed out the mountain to us, our jaws dropped as we all wondered how we were going to climb it.  The mountain was almost a mile high! We began by climbing up a nearby mountain.  Some of my friends said that they did this hike once before during the summer and the heat was horrible.  After about a half hour, we were no longer walking on a path, we were literally climbing up the side of the mountain.  There was one really steep part that we had to hold on to a railing to keep from falling down.  It was pretty hard but we all encouraged each other and helped each other up if someone fell, and eventually we made it to the top.  At the top we were able to see Eilat to the east and Jordan just beyond it, Saudi Arabia to the south, and the Sinai desert of Egypt to the west.
The climb down was much harder than the climb up.  There were so many pebbles and so much sand that I felt like I was skiing down parts of the mountain.  I think everybody fell or almost fell at least once but we all just laughed it off. Almost the entire way down, we were stuck behind this slow moving group of high school girls who were so annoying and we kept having to stop and wait for them.  Then, about halfway down a big group of guys got stuck behind us and they were even more annoyed because they're guys and they wanted to run down the mountain.  Eventually all three groups made it down the mountain.  We got cookies from the bus and we were all really proud of ourselves for doing the hike.
We went back to the hotel, showered, had dinner, and then we went for a night boat ride.  I wasn't too happy about it, just because I don't like boats, but everybody else seemed to have a really good time dancing and playing games.  My friend Gila and I just stood on the side chilling and looking out at the scenery.  I was exhausted when I got back to the hotel so I went right to sleep.
The next morning we woke up for a third and final hike, which turned out not to be much of a hike at all.  We did get to climb up to the Pillars of Amram and we got to climb into an old copper mine.  After that, we had an afternoon off at the beach.  The first thing I did was banana boating.  It was so much fun and I was laughing so hard.  I laughed even harder when my friend Samara fell off.  Afterwards, I decided to go swimming with Dalia and Meira.  We swam from the dock all the way out to the rocks.  They were really tired so they walked back but I decided to swim back.  Then Melissa and I decided to try out the kayaks.  Melissa never did any kind of boating before so I had to teach her how to use the paddle, but after a few minutes we were moving right along.
After a great time at the beach, it was time to go back home.  Now I am exhausted, my shoulders hurt, my thighs hurt, and a bunch of other muscles hurt, but I can say that I had an amazing time in Eilat during my year in Israel.  Shalom V'lehitraot!