My name is Molly Cooke and I am from Dallas,Texas. I decided to take a gap year with Aardvark because I felt like I needed time for personal growth before I head off to college. I want to use this year to find myself and hopefully figure out what I want to do with my life, while experiencing a new culture. Israel is a special place for me. This is my third time visiting Israel. The first time I came to Israel was on a 10 day trip with my temple and my second visit was for a 5 week summer tour with the Greene Family Camp. I am most looking forward to is getting know Israel independently and making life long friends! My goals for this year are to learn as much as I possibly can while I am here and to make sure I appreciate every moment of my gap year. The most memorable experience from orientation week happened on tiyul. (overnight trip) The Jerusalem and Tel Aviv participants came together for a trip to the Golan Heights. We all went on a hike. At the end of the hike all of us jumped into this really cold waterfall that created a pool. The water was so refreshing and the scenery was so beautiful, but my favorite part was getting to know everyone in Aardvark a lot better. After orientation week finished, we started our volunteering and Hebrew ulpan. I am currently volunteering at gan (day care) working with small children. Looking forward to a great year with Aardvark!