Ronnie Shashoua, a participant on the BINA Gap Year, reflects on her experience flying to Israel during the Coronavirus Pandemic and what it was like to be in quarantine before starting her gap year with BINA.
After the Coronavirus pandemic began in the US, I was eagerly awaiting my arrival to Israel even though I knew that there was an impending 14-day quarantine that I would do once I arrived in Israel.
Soon after my flight landed in Israel, the BINA staff met me and several other participants at the airport and transported us to Tel Aviv. We then arrived at the apartment, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was fully stocked with groceries and cleaning supplies. The apartment was really clean, and mechinistim (Our Israeli peer Mechina participants) left us gifts in the apartment: an assortment of Israeli snacks, as well as cute letters welcoming us to Israel.
As quarantine continued, my opinion of it only improved; even with six people, the apartment was comfortable, and all six of us worked together to set chore rotations that included cooking and cleaning. We never got bored – our schedule was filled with Zoom classes ranging from topics such as Hebrew Ulpan to modern interpretations of Torah. We also had occasional ‘group nights’ over Zoom which gave us a chance to connect with other participants who were quarantining in different apartments.
The staff supported us and attested to all of our needs, which I am so grateful for. Despite my initial impressions of what it would be like in quarantine, knowing that it exceeded my expectations has made me even more eager for my gap year to start!
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