Wherever I stand, I stand with Israel

I'm back from a string of trips, all of which were really amazing experiences. One in particular that I want to talk about first is my trip to the University of Maryland for Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) National training. Usually I try to keep my pro-Israel advocacy off of this blog because that can get political, but in the last 3 days I had such an amazing experience that I just need to share this once.

This year I am one of ICC's Grinspoon Interns. There are 45 of us from campuses all over the United States and our job is to network with other leaders on campus to create a positive climate towards Israel.  At training there were 37 other students besides myself, and I don't even know where to begin in describing all the amazing people I met. This was my first conference-type experience. It is unbelievable how close you get and how much you connect with a group of people in just 4 days. The pro-Israel energy in the room was something I never had experienced before. A lot of the time when I give my little elevator speech to my friends I feel like a crazy, obsessed person. Seeing these other students with the same passion as me reassured me that it is not only ok for me to be this way, but awesome!

The WEST COAST BEST COAST regional cohort, led by the amazing Aviva. I swear, I'd love to be her when I grow up.

Becky from University of Oregon. We are planning some HUGE things for the Oregon area this year!

Adam from Loyala Marymount University. Kid looks basically just like James Franco. Not kidding.

Lovely Alisa from Baruch college. This is the little sister from Brooklyn I never had. (Possibly because I am not from Brooklyn...and don't have any actual sisters...jury is still out on that.) 

I cannot wait for this year to get going to and to start building bridges on campus to plan amazing pro-Israel events!

The World

First 5 Places In The World I Want To Go:
1. Israel
2. London, England
3. Versailles, France
4. Florence and Venice, Italy
5. Santorini, Greece

Facebook Friends

A few weeks ago, during our 8-day jaunt through Norcal, Amos and I had the pleasure of touring the Facebook facilities. Now just a note, the Facebook offices are not generally open to the public, but if you know someone then it is pretty simple to get a little lunch time tour. Luckily, a friend of mine's dad works there and hooked us up! (Thanks Petra and Terry).

Our tour began in the lobby of one of the buildings, of which there are many. When you go in there is a desk with iPads. You sign in, telling them who you are and who you are there to see, and it is connected directly to the literal social network! They also have screens all over the campus, also hooked up to Facebook, where you can search for employees to see where on campus they are located. Talk about linked-in! Once we met with Terry, he took us to eat in one of the multiple cafeteria-style eateries. I know the word "cafeteria" has some nasty connotations, but those do not apply to the Facebook cafe's. There are 2 general ones, one BBQ eatery, one Pizza eatery, and lots of snack stations and grocery-store-style fridges full of beverages (Vitamin Water, iced teas, Smart Water, you name it) throughout the other buildings.
After eating delicious food, we walked around the rest of the campus. They call these places "campuses" because they consist of lots of different buildings with people doing various types of things. The name is pretty accurate at Facebook. There are lots of fresh-out-of-college programmers and engineers riding bikes (provided by Facebook) around the facilities, hanging out, inviting friends to lunch, etc. They even have intramural sports! There are lots of murals and art drawn on the walls. All of the buildings are very industrial; few walls, concrete floors, and work stations are just set up at communal tables. There are no cubicles and I think that is just lovely. A photo-op and signing of the famous "Facebook Wall", a look into a few programming offices (they call themselves the "Hackers"), a stop by a snack station for complimentary candy, and that was pretty much it.

This post ended up being longer than I anticipated, so look out for the Google post next!