Enthusiasm, summer activities and trips, the community

 A few weeks ago, after the tremendously scary experience of the Iranian - Israel, the second semester of TAU has finished earlier than expected, officially putting the university in "vacation mode".

It's not a big change for us scholars, because we live our academic life regardless of the exams and the lessons. Nevertheless, the end of the semester means one thing for us: the organized social activities will probably decrease till the start of the next semester, where clubs, trips, social gatherings etc will flourish again. 

Additionally, we haven't heard of big deals planned for the next months and in August the university staff will go on vacation.

This doesn't mean that we should wait passively for the next events, especially because we don't know how long it will take and the summer period is an amazing occasion to enjoy the sun and the fresh air, get out from the lab/office every once in a while and chill out with the peers. 

We felt that the we should give a try for some activities that are focused on us, our community and our benefit. This means we took initiatives WITHOUT the Lowy International School, simply because it is not feasible for now to create a collaboration for this occasion.

Therefore, we proposed a few ideas that we can "easily" organize as private people, as a group of "friends", independently and  effectively, with the purpose of having good times for everyone. We asked you guys what you would be up to among what we have to offer, and we saw your enthusiasm for all of the activities (except for the "work-related" academic one😆) and we think we can go ahead with their organization. Here below we will explain you what are the drafts and the plans of these trips, to give you a bunch of early information. Later on, we will send out a form to see what you guys desire/need and what kind of compromise we can get to so that we will make these projects come true.

A day trip in Jerusalem with Valentina

Discover the old city of Jerusalem with the guide of Valentina, who loves so much the stories of Jerusalem that she knows the citadel as it was her home! We will reach the city by train and we will walk (or take the tram) to reach the citadel. Valentina has stories for each of the quarter (Jewish, Christian, Muslim) and she will guide you through the "must see" for the day. Jerusalem is such a wide container of history and spirituality that it's impossible to discover in just one day, but a touch and go is very nice. Valentina has done this activity previously with different groups of people, and she has enthusiasm and energy to walk around and give some advice for the ones who want to discover more later on. 

We will eat in a nice place inside the citadel, but you can also opt for your own meal if you prefer or you have some food issues. If possible, we will walk to the mount of Olives to see the sunset and we will head home a bit later. It's going to be a quite intense day, but we can set the pace and the direction of this trip. Ideally, it is best going to Jerusalem during the week days, since on Shabbat the city rests and the means of transportation are limited. Also, during the week days it is possible to visit the Al-Aqsa compound, quite of a unique opportunity. 

We should highlight since now that the city is a place where faiths, strictness and seriousness are highly evident around every corner. Therefore, we need to keep the mood accordingly, dress modestly and respect the inhabitants and their unique behaviors and social conventions.

The shooting star trip in the desert

This initiative was the most supported, and we believe so since for this is a more-than-rare opportunity for the ones who don't have an easy time to go to the desert on their own. Plus, if the group is big and lively enough, it's a lot of fun! 

This is technically the most challenging trip to organize, mostly because we will go to a wild place, with quite hostile environmental conditions, and more than 40 people are interested in this adventure. 

First of all, don't worry too much about the "risks" of the adventure. If we stay together and we are well organized, we will avoid most of the troubles, while breathing some thrill. But it is important to stress since now that each one will carry their own responsibilities and will take care of their lives and wellbeing, since it is a "group of friends" trip and not a professional, organized, guided one.

Valentina and Bhavana are organizing the  details of the trip, but they welcome everyone who is willing to help for this challenge. Additionally, Valentina knows the crater area and organizes this trip every year, so that we have some experience.

Firstly, we are looking into the transportation options. According to the number of people who will join, we can rent cars or a bus for the weekend (it could also be a night during the week!) so that we can have place to sit and to bring the items needed for the night.

This is the most delicate part of the deal, because we need to collect money in advance in order to pay the transportation, which means that we need your trust or a reliable way to collect money from all of the participants. It's a big commitment, but it is worth if you really want to do this!

The idea of the trip is roughly this:

1) pick up and gathering in TAU/ Tel Aviv in the early afternoon (13.00-14.00).

2) drive to Mitzpe Ramon. It will take 3 hours plus or minus. We will stop in the middle for a bar/bathroom need and possibly in the city if there are last minute needs.

     IDEA: we could stop at the Avdat National Park (on the peak of the hill) to visit the archeological excavations and enjoy the panorama. It should be a "brief" stop, just to move the legs a bit. Otherwise, it can be done in the following morning. 

3) we will reach the destination, which could be: 

    a) Khan Be'erot campsite (LINK), as long as we book the place in time.

    b) a campground (such as חניון לילה גבס פנימי, חניון לילה הר ארדון,חניון לילה נקרות מערב) 

    c) Borot Lotz campsite (LINK)

    --> for higher budget, there is this "glamping" site (LINK)

4) we will set up  the camping items for the night. In this case, we need to be equipped with items, mattresses, food and all of the necessary. And lights, a lot of lights. We will give more details on this

5) dinner and after dinner (shooting star gazing). It is possible to rent a stargazing guide if we want, for a more exciting adventure.

6) after the night, we will wake up around 8 (maybe even earlier) to avoid the scorching sun, and we might have a short breakfast before a quick exploration of the nice places of the desert (i.e. Ammonite Wall valley, the old quarries with the colorful sand).

7) stop at the "Mitzpe Ramon Visitor center" for a stunning morning view of the crater and a better breakfast (there is a bar nearby the observatory point).

8) if there is time:

    A) quick stop at Avdat National Park (as written before, in case in the evening is too late) or B) at Ben Gurion Midrasha for a nice walk in the park.

9) drive back home.

All of this can be done without too much stress for the heat. We won't climb, hike or go out of the car path/roads because it is dangerous and we are not equipped for that.

For the ones who want to join but lack camping gear, we will try to accommodate them with other people; if we manage to go to Khan Be'erot, there are communal tents.

The Apollonia National Park and the pic nic

This easy trip can be done during a Friday, with the means of transportation and a small entrance ticket for the park, which is an archeological site (LINK). Apollonia is a crusader-time ruin site with an easy pathway to walk around and to take amazing pictures in the cozy Mediterranean environment, close to the beach.

We will start from Namir Road (at the cross with Einstein street, close to the uni), where we can pick any bus that bring us at the closest bus stop to Apollonia site. Since there is no direct bus that stops at the site, the last part of the way to Apollonia will be done by foot (approx. 30 min, but it is not so terrible as it seems!) or by Taxi if there is no way to convince you to walk.

We will have a break at the entrance for coffee and bathroom, and we will visit the place. It will take plus or minus one hour. Later, we can go down to the beach and set up a nice picnic for lunch, have a swim in the sea and chill out till the time to go home, which should happen before the Shabbat and before the transportation services will end. 

For the bravest ones, it is possible to come back to town (Tel Aviv) by feet, on the beach, where it is possible to catch a shabbat bus and go home after the long way.

We are currently thinking about how to carry some of the equipment (food and sun umbrella), and we might have a car for this.

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This is it for now! Let us know what you think, reach out if you have suggestions or you want to help in the organization, and keep up with our updates!