Jerusalem, If I Forget You...

As I sit here in the Jerusalem Center with no students left except for Jed and Jordan who are peacing out in about 3 hours for London with their parents, I am feeling a STRONG case of bittersweet emotions.

I'm going to have to kind of back track on this whole blogging thing, and catch up during Christmas break, because from floating in the Dead Sea to the final footsteps of Christ's life, to the Sea of Galilee, there have been so many things the past month that I have yet to update and document for myself.

To start off our last day in Jerusalem, we headed over to the Western Wall for one last glance.  It's Hanukah this week, so there was a huge Menorah in front of the wall. 

I'm going to miss this scene being the norm.

Double duty.

Because it's Hanukah, we of course had to eat Hanukah donuts all week... One for every day we celebrate is what I say!  Bring on the 8 delicious donuts.  We have found many bakeries around West Jerusalem that have found a nice little sweet spot in my heart.  These donuts are no exception.

We then made our way down to Damascus Gate for my 4th Schwarma in a row this week, and I'm not regretting it at all.  The scale when I get home might be a little upset, but calm down it was my last day in the city with these fine people and we wanted to EAT all the good things that were going to be dead to us after today.  Which means 2 rounds of gelato - 1 at 10am & 1 at 3pm.

2 donuts - 1 from SAMBOOKIE and 1 from that cutie Hanukah donut joint.  And plenty of Sour straws that I've been hiding out in my room to "take home."

Yes, that IS in fact me at the top of Damascus Gate.

After we picnicked in the square, we headed down the road and met some of our other friends for slack lining in front of Jaffa Gate.  It was so fun to see people come over and try it out.

I love this little cutie.  So happy we could come to Jerusalem together after all our splendid days in High School.

Oh, does that balloon look similar to the one from this post? That's because Jaquel and Tommy bought ANOTHER one for today!

On our way home, Jaquel REALLLLY wanted to climb to the top of the Lutheran church in the Old City, but they just changed the price from 5 shekels to 15 shekels... considering most of us were heading home in the next couple of hours, it would be ridiculous to exchange more dollar bills for shekels which we didn't have.  SOOOO while Tommy and Jack climbed up the stairs for a precious 30 shekels, Staish and I raided every pocket of our bags until we scrounged up exactly 40 shekels - Just enough for all 4 of us to get the last ice cream we'll ever eat in Jerusalem. 

And because they are the best friends in the world, these fine people took me up to the rooftops, which was one of the last things on MY list of things to do as well.  A little over rated, but nonetheless, a cross off the list!

And this below is most definitely not a staged event... They REALLY did race through the city and the hide in a window as mannequins while Staish and I walked right past without even noticing.

We made it home just in time to pack our bags and watch the last Jerusalem Sun set of most of our lives.

I LOVE THESE PEOPLE.

Glad Jack talked/forced us into buying these friends 4ever Minnie Mouse "Jerusalem" shirts.  Seriously though.  One of the best shirts I own.  Minus Rose, whose shirt was in the wash...

And we LOOOOOVE Mckay.  With all our hearts.

Today couldn't have ended our last day in the Holy Land any better.  I'm feeling a little anti-climatic because my family is coming tomorrow afternoon, and I'm still actually AT the Center now, but I had some SERIOUSLY tearful goodbyes a few hours ago, and I already miss the amazing people that I've gained such incredibly close friendships with.  Last night the girls and I had a final girls night hoorah where we did everything from telling our biggest secrets, which BLEW all of our minds, to throwing our 2013 goals off the back balcony, and having a heart to heart testimony meeting where we each told each other the best things that we love about them.  Sometimes those can be awkward, but with these ladies, we were all crawling over each other to be the next to say something nice about the others.  I never imagined to find so many amazing and influencial LIFETIME relationships in my time here, but I think it's safe to say my expectations were SERIOUSLY exceeded in every way in Jerusalem.

"Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if I forget you...."