a walk on the spiritual side

I found out I'm going to Israel on the 17th of August. Yes, that's right, 4 continents in 8 months.

I have always really wanted to go to Israel because I feel like it will clarify so much for me. Spiritually, I mean. I always knew that I wanted to go and that it meant something significant to me, but today when I was reading the itinerary I was literally overcome by tears. Tears of relief and happiness and excitement and graciousness for someone believing in me enough to give me this life changing experience. Literally giving it to me. I'm going to Israel for free.

From people I know who have either lived in Israel or been there on there on birthright, I have heard that birthright people don't have the best reputation there. I think many people just use the trip as a vacation or to let loose or something. I feel like it's so different for me (if that is why a lot of people go); I'm taking this trip primarily for a very spiritual reason, I feel like it's something that I desperately need to do. I'm kind of intimidated by the brainwashy type programming, but at the same time I feel like I need to learn something. I need to be moved.

The group I'm going with is apparently from Boston, so that should be kind of interesting. I'm not exactly sure how I ended up in a group with these people, but maybe I'll have some random east coast connections by the end of all this. That would be a huge bonus to this whole endeavor.

For those of you interested in the Maxwell Street Days saga, it was kind of a bust today. The line at Urban Outfitters was pretty insane, so I didn't even stop by there. The other shops on State St. seem to be overruled by hippies or Indian sub-continent region shopkeepers who overcharge for really ugly clothing. I did end up picking up Season 2 of Mad Men (HELL YES) and The Social Network at the video store, buy one get one free. I was marginally bummed that someone had snatched up the other seasons before I got to the stand, and am still wondering why it was the second season that was left. What was wrong with Season 2??