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Rachel Delaney, Marni Frishwasser, Abigail Litwinoff, Oren Merhav, Naomi Shaw and Sarah Gorski on Israel Adventure Plus Group 2 2013 during Gadna, a week of intense Israeli Army training, #usyeverywhere

I just finished gadna, and am now on my way to Jerusalem for the first time in two years!!! On the bus back from Sde Boker and to Tel Aviv I did a lot of reflecting about gadna and the army. Gadna was hard. Like really hard. Not necessarily physically hard but mentally challenging. There were times where my body was exhausted, sure, but most of it was the mental exhaustion. The sitting around doing nothing, then being ran around by our mefakedet (commander). Over and over again we were mentally tested. I had nothing to prepare me for this experience and nothing would have prepared me. Gadna is nothing like anything I have ever done before. And it was awful a lot of times, and really annoying. But I feel more prepared for the army now. I understand what my Israeli friends said when they said that they loved their experience but at the same time laughed at me and said good luck and it's gonna be hard. Now I understand. Even though gadna was hard, it was a good experience and I had fun in a way. I definitely recommend people to do it if they can. Because to be mentally challenged in such a way, in a place where I thought I was gonna be physically challenged was extremely rewarding on several levels. And now, onto my first weekend out of the kibbutz in Jerusalem!!!!