A pledge brother at Clemson asked me to go on Birthright on a national trip, Shorashim—the only Birthright trip organizer that has Israeli soldiers for the entire 10 days. Those seven Israelis were some of the greatest people I’ve ever met.
In the Negev, we stayed in Bedouin Tents, woke up at 3:30 am and hiked up Mazada for the sunrise. It was so perfect…everyone was cheering.
A more emotional moment took place at Mt. Herzl. The prior evening, we had gone to Yad Vashem. At Mt. Herzl, one of the soldiers took us to a grave and talked about a friend who had been attacked and killed. That story connected everyone on a much deeper level. It was a tough part of the trip, but one of my favorites.
After the Birthright portion of the trip, I extended with some friends for three more days in Tel Aviv. We stayed with one of the Israeli soldiers. We went to a family dinner for Shavuot where everything was all white. It was beautiful and fun and I felt like I had known them for years.
This was a trip of a lifetime…the best two weeks of my life!
Austin Kramer
Clemson University
Birthright Israel