Feel Free to Live Vicariously Through Me tagged: , , , , , ,

Feel Free to Live Vicariously Through Me

Posted by Nicole Shore in Arts & Culture, Family, Israel

Posted by Nicole Shore in Arts & Culture, Family, Israel, Tampa, Travel

February 8th, 2011 is the day my life will drastically change. I bought my one way ticket to Israel about two months ago. After a devastating setback when the job I applied for in Paris, France fell through, I decided to follow my second dream, to return to Israel.

I got my first glimpse of Israel during a 2008 Birthright Israel trip with Hillel at the University of South Florida (just one of the Hillels of the Florida Suncoast). You can’t help but fall in love with the sandy beaches, the shining sun and the way of life. Ten days was enough to have me asking for more and the experience really changed my life. Israel felt like home even though I had never been there before, even though I had only experienced a small part of it and I resolved to myself before I left that I would return one day.

Here I am, three years later traveling on a one way ticket with the help of Oranim and Masa (both popular programs that allow young adults to visit/return to Israel). My program specifically is the Eilat Hotel Management internship. It lasts five months and will include interning at one of Isrotel’s many Eilat properties, Ulpan (learning Hebrew) and tutoring Israeli children in the English language (although I have a feeling the children will be tutoring me in Hebrew!). I know very simple phrases in Hebrew and I am so excited to learn another language. I never went to Hebrew school, and I am thrilled that by the end of program I may be able to read the Torah in its native language.

At this point, after I have told someone my story, I get some weird looks and a lot of questions.

“Well, what are you going to do after the program?”

“How do your parents feel about this decision?”

“Do you even know anybody there?!”

And I always answer, “I don’t know, but I will figure something out.”

I am very lucky to have supportive parents who realize that this is something I must do despite how nervous they may be. I also have long-lost family I have never met that I plan on meeting up with for the first time when I arrive in Jerusalem. I’m not afraid and I’m not nervous (although many people are feeling both for me!). I am excited and most eager to learn.

In my upcoming series of dispatches from Israel, we will see how far one can actually get on savings and passion.

Nicole Shore graduated college in 2009 with a Bachelor’s degree in French language and culture, and a Bachelor’s degree in communications with a focus on interpersonal communication. She loves change and meeting new people (in fact she choose to attend the University of South Florida because she knew that only two people from her high school graduating class were going to be joining her) and thrives in places where she has to learn to survive differently than what she’s accustomed to). With all the money in the world, she’d travel and experience the foods and cultures of the world.