On Tuesday evening, October 25, 2022, Tallwood High School’s Israeli Delegation arrived in America. They were at Tallwood High School until October 31, then traveled to Washington D.C. and New York City to participate in conferences.

The delegation and their hosts went on several outings, including visiting Busch Gardens, a local amusement park for Virginia residents, the Virginia Beach Aquarium, the Jewish Federation, and more. These visits have given the Israeli delegation an insight to American culture and history. 

The Israeli delegation also enjoyed their stay in America. “People are really nice, it’s really pretty here,” said Libby Ur, a junior delegate and part of the Israeli delegation. “I really like the fact that everybody has a license. It’s really convenient,” mentioned Shir Wein, another Israeli student.

On top of that, the delegation also enjoyed the Tallwood spirit and environment. They could be seen during Friday Night Lights, participating in cultural cafes, and other school spirit activities. 

“It’s been great. Like everybody is really nice. The teachers are nice,” said Wein.  “We found out the football and cheerleaders are a thing,” Ur added. The delegation continues to learn about staple elements of American culture that are different from Israeli culture. 

In addition, the hosts of the delegation enjoyed spending time with the Israeli students. “I like them a lot,” said Mollie Donovan, GSWLA (Global Studies and World Languages Academy) Tallwood senior and Israeli delegation host. “Their school is very different than ours…Literally it’s a farm, they have peacocks and chickens just walking around.” 

School work is also different for them compared to American schools. “They all have  tasks to keep, like help the animals,” said Donovan. 

It’s not just their school that’s different. Both groups found the different food and meals intriguing. Donovan said, “Restaurants and the kind of laws that they have are different here…Anytime we got to meals we would talk about, like, differences between them and stuff.” 

When the delegation compared Israel to America, Ur and Wein described America as being “very different. Like everybody here very polite and kind of quiet and nice.” They also described Israel in relation to America. In Israel, “everybody’s really warm and loud and rude sometimes but, like, in a good way.” 

Now that they’re gone, “I miss them so much,” said Donovan. The Israeli Delegation left America on Monday, November 14.