Blog - Aardvark Israel Gap Year Program

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Germany 2019

May 5, 2019 International

Day 1 Dear Parents, Guten Abend aus Berlin! Good evening from Berlin! After a wonderful and exhausting first day in Germany, everyone is back at the hotel, probably already sound asleep as I write this. Our day started at 3:00 am as we headed off to the airport for our ...

Alumni of the Month – Daniel Bard

May 5, 2019 Meet Our Alumni

My name is Daniel Bard, I’m 22 years old from Chevy Chase Maryland. I was on Aardvark Israel in 2016-2017 and am now serving as a combat medic in the 101st IDF paratroopers brigade. After I returned to the United States from Aardvark, I didn’t really feel at home in ...

Student of the Week – Dovi Rosenberg

May 1, 2019 Student of the Week

Hi, my name is Dovi Rosenberg, I’m from Sydney, Australia, and I have been granted the amazing opportunity to be a student on the Aardvark Spring Semester 2019. Having graduated from a Modern Orthodox School in Sydney, I have taken a natural step forward in coming to Israel for my ...

What Makes the Israeli Diet So Healthy?

April 29, 2019 The Uniqueness of Israel

Israel is ranked as one of the healthiest countries in the world and one of the main reasons for this is the country’s diet. A recent ranking of countries with the lowest rate of diet-related deaths ranked Israeli at No 1 and the country came in at No 10 on ...

Student of the Week – Hannah Dannheisser

April 22, 2019 Student of the Week

Hey everyone, my name is Hannah Michaela Dannheisser. I am 19 years old and from Johannesburg, South Africa. Yes, I am from Africa and no, we do not ride elephants to work. Now that that has been cleared up, I can tell you a little bit about my Aardvark experience ...

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem April 19, 2019

April 19, 2019 Weekly Updates

Shalom Parents and Chag Sameach! Today is the start of Spring Break and all of the students are on the way to celebrate Passover, some at home, some with friends, some are traveling within Israel and some outside of Israel. Last Sunday afternoon, the students met with Charlee, and together ...

Weekly Updates – Tel Aviv April 19, 2019

April 19, 2019 Weekly Updates

Student of the Week – Mia Cohen

April 15, 2019 Student of the Week

Hi! I am Mia Cohen from Sydney, Australia, and I still can’t believe how fortunate I am to have experienced the last 3 incredibly rewarding and enriching months in Tel Aviv on Aardvark. I went to Moriah College, a modern orthodox Jewish school in Sydney, and in 2020, I look ...

Weekly Updates – Tel Aviv April 11, 2019

April 11, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, This week was a historic week for the state of Israel. On Tuesday, millions of Israeli citizens went out to vote. Here at Aardvark Tel-Aviv, our students took advantage of the election day in different ways. Some walked around the different voting stations to see what it’s like ...

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem April 11, 2019

April 11, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, It has been an amazingly sunny week here on Aardvark Jerusalem and we are all enjoying the nice change from the rainy winter! Let’s take a look at some of this past week’s highlights! On Sunday afternoon, our students went to pay their respects to the family of ...

Student of the Week – Isaac Cremer

April 11, 2019 Student of the Week

Shalom, my name is Isaac Cremer, I’m from Sydney Australia, and I’ve been granted the amazing opportunity of being part of Aardvark Spring Semester 2019. I went to the school Moriah College back in Sydney, and came to Israel as part of my gap year before university. I’m now living ...

A Quick Guide to Israel’s 2019 Elections

April 8, 2019 The Uniqueness of Israel

This month sees elections taking place in Israel. Israeli politics are incredibly hard to follow; the fact that there are 41 parties standing in the elections tells you all that you need to know. People vote for the parties and the more votes a party gets, the more seats it ...

Weekly Updates – Tel Aviv April 5, 2019

April 5, 2019 Weekly Updates

Shalom dear parents, This week was special due to the upcoming elections next week, during it we focused on important topics such as the security situation and the political storms that are happening at present. Now I would like to tell you all about the week we had. On Sunday ...

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem April 5, 2019

April 5, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, We hope you are all doing well and that those of you who are preparing for Passover are not finding the cleaning too stressful. Remember dust is not chametz! Here are this week’s highlights: Early Sunday morning, Natali flew with some of our students for their trip to ...

Israeli TV Shows to Prepare You for Your Gap Year

April 4, 2019 The Uniqueness of Israel

If you are considering a gap year in Israel but are not sure how best to prepare for it, then one thing that you can do with minimum effort is watch some fantastic Israeli television shows. Over the last few years a number of Israeli shows, such as Homeland, Traffic ...

Student of the Week – Jaimi Knep

April 2, 2019 Student of the Week

Hi, my name is Jaimi Knep from Sydney, Australia and I am currently living it up in the most hipster neighbourhood of Florentin, Tel Aviv, whilst on the Spring Semester of Aardvark Israel. I graduated from Moriah College in 2018, a modern orthodox Jewish day school. I grew up surrounded ...

Birdwatching in Israel

April 2, 2019 The Uniqueness of Israel

Something you may not know about Israel is that it is one of the best places in the world to go birdwatching. Each year more than one billion birds fly over Israel during spring and autumn, and there is an amazing variety of species. There are numerous locations to go ...

Italy 2019

April 1, 2019 International

Day 1 Dear Parents, We started our day way before the sun came up, heading to the airport for a 5:50 am flight to Venice. Upon landing in Venice, we were energized by our arrival in Italy. Now, usually you don’t think of the taxi to or from the airport ...

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem March 28, 2019

March 28, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, Spring is almost here, things are beginning to bloom, and we are looking forward to the end of winter so that we can enjoy spring in Jerusalem and Israel. Here are last week’s highlights: On Sunday afternoon, some of our students went on a tour of the IDC ...

Weekly Updates – Tel Aviv March 28, 2019

March 28, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, Another week has gone by here at Aardvark Tel-Aviv and it was definitely an exciting and thrilling one. After our Nepal group came back and the Purim festivities ended, we returned to our normal routine and had another great week focusing on our monthly subject, the multicultural society ...

Student of the Week – Hannah Saban

March 28, 2019 Student of the Week

My name is Hannah Saban, I’m 19 years old and I’m from Atlanta Georgia. This fall I will be attending High Point University in North Carolina and what follows may be the least formal student of the week there ever was, so stick with me (; I was birthed into ...

Weekly Updates – Tel Aviv March 24, 2019

March 25, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, PURIM WAS HERE!!! Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, who was planning to kill all the Jews. This took place in the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire. Purim is one of the most widely celebrated festivals in Israel, it is ...

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem March 24, 2019

March 24, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents & Students, PURIM WAS HERE!!! Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, who was planning to kill all the Jews. This took place in the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire. Purim is one of the most widely celebrated festivals in Israel, ...

Student of the Week – Liad Zafrani

March 19, 2019 Student of the Week

Hey, my name is Liad Zafrani and I am from Swampscott Massachusetts, a small seaside town next to Salem (the place where they killed the “witches”). In May I’m going back home to college, I plan on attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst honors college, where I intend to major ...