By Jamie Ambos
Friendships are hard, especially in college. It becomes increasingly harder to prioritize friendships when we all have a million things going on: school, boys, work, etc. This summer, when a bunch of us decided to relocate to Tel Aviv for two months, I knew it was going to be the ultimate girls trip, and I knew it was exactly what my friends and I needed. I know not everyone is so lucky to get an opportunity like this, making it extra important for myself and my friends to make the absolute most of it.
I have a tight-knit group of friends; we do absolutely everything together, making it a no-brainer that the group of us coming to Israel this summer were going to do no differently. We’ve tried amazing restaurants, gotten lost walking the streets too many times to count, spent endless hours at the beach, shopped excessively at the Shuk and have watched the sunset from our balcony every single evening. I truly did not think our bonds could become stronger and our group could become closer, and yet, it has. My friends have genuinely turned into my family.
We have been in Tel Aviv for six weeks now, and I can say with certainty it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. We have yelled, cried and said things we don’t mean. We have also never smiled brighter, laughed harder or loved one another more. Uprooting your whole life to a foreign country teaches you a lot about yourself and other people, and I will continue to learn more and more until the very second my plane lands on the ground in New York. This summer has allowed my friends and I to grow up together–I could not be more grateful.