Sarah at the climbing wall during activities at Ya’ar Bereshit, an outdoor training camp.

Arriving in Israel on Sept. 1 was a lot like visiting a distant family member for the first time. I could just imagine the hustle and bustle of a third cousin twice removed as he endeavors to make me feel welcome. And so it was with my introduction to Year Course. Everyone I met was friendly, and all Year Course administrators and counselors tried to make me comfortable. But just as a third cousin can never immediately feel like family, my new life in Israel over 5,000 miles from my much-beloved abode back in Chicago couldn’t have immediately felt like home.

Fortunately, things inevitably got easier. That night I met my roommates and the rest of the people on the Year Course sports track. I met the tzofim, or Israeli scouts, who are taking a year off before their mandatory army service to do community service in Holon and Bat Yam and live with the chanichim (participants) on Year Course. I met my madricha (female counselor) for the next three months and got an idea of what I would be doing and how I would be doing it. And I got unpacked.

That first night in town, lounging on the couches in my slightly small and dingy apartment in Bat Yam with my four other roommates, eating room-temperature pizza and chatting, I finally relaxed a little.

It was Wednesday night when we took a bus to Ya’ar Bereshit, an outdoor training camp, with a Bedouin tent to sleep in, a climbing wall and various team elements to complete. We were forced to run around yelling “click clack,” the sports track motto, and display our supposed athletic prowess. I hurt the team record a bit, seeing as it took me almost four minutes to climb up the wall that was taking everybody else 45 seconds to ascend.

After dinner, we had free time to get to know other people. It was a little daunting, considering there were over 200 kids and I’m not as outgoing as I would like to be. Nevertheless, it’s impossible to get a big group of teenagers together with little to no adult supervision and not have fun.

The next day we traveled to Ein Gedi for a gibbush tiyul, or bonding hike—also known as a painful walk in 100-degree heat. Suffering is the best way to unite a group. We hiked up the mountains part way, stopped at a spring to cool off and splash around a little, then continued up to the famous Ein Gedi waterfalls. I guess at this point I’m supposed to gush about Israel’s beauty. Unfortunately, all I could think about was that the Colorado Rockies are just as nice and 20 degrees cooler. This would be an appropriate time to explain that the heat has been the hardest thing for me to adjust to here in Israel, and that I’m not actually as cynical as I seem.

There have been other difficult transitions too. Learning how to use the public transportation was a bit of a challenge, especially because I don’t speak Hebrew. Then, just as I thought I had the hang of it, I had to get used to not having public transportation during Shabbat. Then, of course, there’s the big issue of living on my own without my family, which was surprisingly easy in some ways but then cripplingly difficult in others. Cooking, cleaning and grocery shopping I’ve got down pat. But I miss people way more than I thought I would. And I don’t have a mother and father to blame things on anymore. Finally, there are some of those more luxurious comforts I miss, such as the Xbox 360 game “Rock Band,” which I’m basically obsessed with and whose absence makes me weepy.

Other than that, the transition to life in Israel has been fun, entertaining, occasionally embarrassing and altogether enriching. I’ve got my volunteer placement coaching soccer in the afternoons to fourth-graders, my gym membership to the very nice and expansive country club in Holon (a perk that comes with the sports track) and my ulpan (intensive Hebrew study) placement in level 3 of 6. I’m ready to go and excited to be here on Young Judaea Year Course.

Sarah Pfander is from Urbana, Ill., in the suburbs of Chicago. She loves all things Jane Austen, is an avid soccer player and intends to play for Oberlin College, which she’ll be attending next year. She’s also a waterskiing and snow skiing enthusiast and hopes to someday compete in an Ironman triathlon.