Senior Kyla Feldman sought adventure in early February 2015, flying from California to Israel, where she studied in Jerusalem for 4 months. Feldman heard about the program, Eisendrath International Experience (EIE) through a couple friends from a camp she had attended.

The scholastic environment in Israel was a change from what Feldman has been accustomed.  “The school hours in Israel went up to 11 hours a day which was really long, but the classes were spread out which was nice,” said Feldman.

In Israel, Feldman had 2-3 days of school per week, but on days when she didn’t have class, she and her classmates would go on tiyuls, which means “field trips” in English. On 1 of the tiyuls, she went to Poland, visited the site of WWII concentration camps, as well as learned about the Holocaust.

Feldman had 3 hours of Jewish history and 2 hours of Hebrew instruction in the mornings. Then in the afternoons, she would take general studies classes similar to those she would have taken at Campolindo. “The school there is different than school here. A lot of it has to do with the culture and religious stuff (since it is a Jewish state). The school I went to wasn’t as religious but since we were living in the country, we still kept it kosher,” said Feldman.

During her stay, Feldman also stayed in a Kibbutz, a communal living area on a farm.  Feldman said, “I felt very independent while I was there. It taught me how to take care of myself and that I can’t always rely on other people to do things for me. As of now, I feel like I’m somewhat prepared for college now.”

Feldman is holding off on going back to see her friends and family in Israel due to the current political turmoil in the middle east. However, when things clear up, she hopes to return.