<p>Longtime lurker compelled to chime in on the amazing JWRP experience. I went on the trip in July 2012. It was incredible to be in Israel ( my first time) with 150 women from across North America! The founder, Lori Palatnik, is a brilliant speaker. You can watch videos of her on the Aish Hatorah website. In addition to touring, a good portion of the trip is spent listening to talks on Jewish values. The groups are organized by the community in which you live so that you can continue to learn and grow when you return home. Our group gets together for holiday related activities as well as just generally socializing. The trip is not completely free as you have to pay for your airfare. If you can participate in this incredible experience, you should absolutely do it!</p>
<p>I looked into this last summer after my kids returned from their Birthright trip and unfortunately you have to live in an area that is affiliated with their group and Providence, sadly, is not.</p>
<p>jaynebe: That’s too bad. How’s the college hunt going for D2? What are you waiting for now?</p>
<p>Mine has called every day almost from Israel- yesterday and today it’s about getting a bunch of plays and movies she needs to watch/read for school in her last ten days at home and help getting them (maybe I should have just let her fall on that- she was home in between watching NCIS) She is still having a great time. They were in Tel Aviv today- someone needs to make the Independence Hall presentation better!!! She is still enjoying every day and stories will be coming home like flood waters in two and a half days!</p>
<p>fourkidsmom…there you go bragging about those phone calls again! 
Here is what I got yesterday via facebook message…“I’m alive” then “Went to Lebanon and Syrian borders” and then when I asked how the Tel Aviv night life was, he said “fun”. That’s it! He comes home on Thursday. Maybe when I see him in person I will get two sentences strung together!</p>
<p>hi linymom! I was sooo disappointed to learn there was no local affiliate, not even in Boston which is surprising. D2 is waiting to hear from Maryland at the end of the month. Your S applied there too, right? Then the last school she will hear from that she is very interested in is Syracuse. Unlike D1 and her reaction to Delaware, she hasn’t had that “moment” where she walks on a campus and says “THIS IS IT.” We are heading down to see Tulane and Elon in March and I’m hoping she will start eliminating/choosing favorites after that. We have a very detailed spreadsheet going where certain criteria is given x amount of points based on how important each item is to her. Its a fun way to get her to really think about what it is she is looking for in college…</p>
<p>Yes, we are waiting to hear from Maryland too. Even though two of DS’ close friends have UMDCP as one of their top choices, I don’t think he’s considering now. Way too big for him, plus Tulane is way more of a fit for him. You will love Tulane! (If you haven’t seen it yet, look at my “visit report” on one of the Tulane threads - posted around Dec. 1). Same difference here between DD and DS. Didn’t have that “aha” moment like DD did at UD. Actually, he had that “aha” moment on at least three very different campuses. Not very helpful! Can you email me your spreadsheet - maybe that will help us…</p>
<p>To all of you with kids on Birthright… just want to share this quick little story about the calls I got when DS went on his NFTY trip (he was 16). Both happened when I was out of town on business in Portland, OR - literally 10 hour time difference from Israel. One was the middle of the night in Portland (1 or 2 am); he just got back from three days sleeping in the desert and was absolutely dying from allergies… “mom, what do I take?” OMG. I was in a fog. I couldn’t even remember what meds he had with him. Had to get my problem-solving hat on in the middle of a deep sleep. The next day, or maybe the day after, I was still in Portland, having a biz lunch… DS calls again… “mom, my clothes are gone.” WHAT? After several calls and emails to his group leader - during which time I congratulated myself for being so calm because, afterall, he was in a city (Tel Aviv, I think) and had a credit card so he could always buy what he needed - he called back and said he found his clothes. One of the counselors took his bag off the bus, while he took his turn cleaning the bus, and left the bag in the hotel lobby, setting off a frantic search. Lucky the bomb squad didn’t come check out the bag, I guess.</p>
<p>After this, my motto is “no news is good news.”</p>
<p>Welcome JZmom! Hope you’ll stop lurking and join in our discussions! :)</p>
<p>Funny story Linymom and very apropo. S1 got home yesterday from Birthright. He tried to stay awake as long as he could, but by dinner time he was falling asleep at the table! He barely put food in his mouth and excused himself. I tried to get him to stay awake as long as he could to get adjusted back to this time zone…I went upstairs to check on him at 7:20pm and he was sound asleep! I woke him at 8:00am this morning to get him ready to head back to school. Boy, he needed that sleep!</p>
<p>I did 4 loads of laundry so he could have everything clean and dry to go back to college with today. He’s now back at school after a whirlwind trip. He will never forget he went on Birthright during the worst weather Israel has seen in 30 years. He said Jerusalem had 9 inches of snow and they watched it rain in the desert.</p>
<p>Linymom: He actually was in Tel Aviv when a car bomb went off…not terrorists, though…trying to nab a “mob” person. Yikes, YES, no news is usually good news!</p>
<p>This morning when he was coherent I showed him pictures of my trip to Israel when I was in college…I visited many of the same sights as he did, although my trip wasn’t Birthright sponsored! He just laughed at how young his mom looked. Thanks a lot! 
(!)</p>
<p>I have heard of Lori Palatnik, and like her videos. I’ve heard different responses from non-Orthodox people about Aish, but I’m one of them who likes the website a lot . I don’t have a Chabad near me, but I have attended some events and they welcome all students.I attended one Purim event where I did not recognize the rabbi in the constume he had on. He looked like one of the kids.</p>
<p>Anybody on here waiting to hear from Binghamton?..emails are coming out albeit slowly!</p>
<p>^ We visited Binghamton but DS crossed it off the list immediately. Good luck to those who are waiting for the Bing decision!</p>
<p>Jozuko: I hope you get your conversation when your kiddo gets home. I also heard next to nothing from my kids but once home and rested there was lots of nonstop converation it was great.</p>
<p>Linymom: I got a good laugh from your phone call stories. Yup sometimes no news is good news.</p>
<p>Chochip and the rest of you with kids who just returned from or are on birthright now. What wonderful unique photos your kids are going to come home with with all of that snow!</p>
<p>chocchip. I’m glad that your son made it home and back to school. Did he a least give you some details about the trip? My DS comes home on Thursday and starts his real life job on Tuesday (he graduated Colgate a semester early, so he starts real life now!).
Liny. I can relate to the lost clothes. When D2 was on a Teen tour a couple of years ago, he called me at 5am to tell me that he lost his wallet (on the third day of the trip!). I had to scramble to get money to him, but of course, when they packed up to move locations they he found it under someone bag!</p>
<p>Just in case some of our readers are not familiar with Birthright, here is a link to their website:</p>
<p>[Taglit-Birthright</a> Israel](<a href=“http://www.birthrightisrael.com/visitingisrael/Pages/default.aspx]Taglit-Birthright”>Choose Your Free Israel Trip | Taglit Birthright Israel)</p>
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<p>University of Florida is the number one school for Jewish students in the U.S., you might get in with Bs.</p>
<p>Warrinton, I’m not sure where you got your stats from. UF does have a fairly high number of Jewish students, but it is certainly not the number one school. UF has 38,000 undergraduates, of whom, 6500 are Jewish (under 20%). Binghamton, for example has 11,500 undergrads, with 3500 Jewish students (over 20%). You can get these stats on hillel. org. just type in the name of the school where it says college search.</p>
<p>Also, I want to add that it is fairly difficult to get into University of Florida as an out of state student (from what I have heard).</p>
<p>Thank you for the welcome chocchipcookie! DS is a HS senior admitted ED to Carnegie Mellon to study computer science. There is an impressive looking Hillel building adjacent to the campus ( I believe it serves both CMU and University of Pittsburgh (?)) I hope that DS will participate in its activities. Is anyone familiar with this Hillel?</p>
<p>Congrats JZMOM2. That’s quite an accomplishment. I am not familiar with the Hillel, but I think it is shared between the two schools.</p>