January 24th, 2009 - Tel Aviv, Israel

I woke up up from a nap after finally checking into the Sky Hostel. It's in the heart of a Tel Aviv, a street called Ben Yahuda, down the street from a gorgeous beach. I showered and went out to search for a nice place to eat with Jackie. We ended up at a cafe/restaurant that Jackie had eaten at before. I had sweet potato and Parmesan ravioli, accompanied by a fresh salad and a couple Stella Artois beers. The weather was perfect, so we ate outside and watched people walk around on Shabbat. We drank, and talked about the trip in full detail for the first time. We had a ton of laughs and learned about each others favorite times. It felt good to reminisce, as the entire day was filled with sadness that the trip was over and our friends had all gone home. It is a strange feeling to be the last ones from our trip still around. All that is left to do at a moment like this is to ponder what fun you've already had. It's a great feeling, but an extremely vulnerable one. Especially when you are forced to walk around the last place you saw all of your friends for 6 hours until your hostel is ready! This gave me time to think about everything in great detail, and almost re-experience it in a way... During our "timeline" discussion, my phone rang. It was one of the Israeli girls that was on my trip, Maya! We met up with her, another Israeli friend named Or, and a few of their friends and drank a couple bottles of wine at a nice little pub. We had the best time, remembering the littlest things... Before you know it, the time was 4am. Jackie, Maya and I left to get early morning sushi at a crazy sushi bar in the middle of the street. It was fantastic and unbelievably cheap. An entire roll of sushi was 11 NIS. $1 = 4 NIS. We are meeting up with the Israelis again today for one last run around Tel Aviv before we head to the airport at 10pm. We are going to Old Jafo today to ride on magic carpets. Hopefully they are less turbulent than the airplanes we have been riding. Old Jafo is kind of like a reallly old flea market with tons of second hand/third hand items. It's very fun. I'll send a wrap up I'm sure, but some of you may see me before you read my last email. If you are one of those people, I cannot wait.