WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville | Virginia Tech students travel to Israel despite Middle East violence
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"It was the best trip I've ever been on and it was a lot more life impacting than I thought it was going to be," says Mandy Tehaan, a junior at Virginia Tech.
"Just being in Israel you felt a connection, it was something special," says junior Aaron Fine.
"We went to places that you've learned about your entire life and seen pictures of hundreds of times, but to see it with your own two eyes, and with people your own age, your own friends, is an experience unlike any other," says junior Shaina Horwitz.
"Many many of the parents were calling, and they were concerned, wanting to know what the security measures were, what was going on in Israel, was the trip canceled," says Hillel Executive Director Sue Kurtz.Troubles in Israel didn't keep a group from going on a big trip.
Virginia Tech Junior Mandy Tehaan puts aside her school books for a moment, to look through a book filled with her own memories made during winter break.
She, along with about 30 other students, traded in the hills of Blacksburg, for the deserts of Israel.
"It was the best trip I've ever been on and it was a lot more life impacting than I thought it was going to be," says Mandy Tehaan, a junior at Virginia Tech.
"Just being in Israel you felt a connection, it was something special," says junior Aaron Fine.
Twice a year, students from the Jewish organization Hillel try to make the journey, but this year, Israel launched an attack against Hamas, just days before they planned to head out.
"Many many of the parents were calling, and they were concerned, wanting to know what the security measures were, what was going on in Israel, was the trip canceled," says Hillel Executive Director Sue Kurtz.
A few students backed out and safety was a top concern for those who followed through.
"Every single bus on the Taglit Birthright Israel Hillel campus trip has a guard with them, and depending on where they're going they sometimes add a guard for that specific section of that part of the trip," says Kurtz.
So the students didn't miss out on the trip of a lifetime.
"We rode camels, went to Jerusalem, saw the Western Wall, went to Tel Aviv, saw the Med Sea," says Fine.
"We went to places that you've learned about your entire life and seen pictures of hundreds of times, but to see it with your own two eyes, and with people your own age, your own friends, is an experience unlike any other," says junior Shaina Horwitz.
"An amazing trip and I'll never forget it. I'm so, so glad that I went," says Tehaan.
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