I’ve been here many times before…kind of

Below is a guest post from my brother Josh:

“I’ve been in this position so many times before. After 8 years at summer camp, 2 other youth group summer trips, and life on a Kibbutz, standing in a large group of strangers on the first day of an adventure is nothing new. You make quick judgements, and want to do your best to control other’s snap judgements of you.

The only difference between the last 10 times I’ve been in this position, and this time around, is that I have a serious girlfriend.On top of that, nearly all the girls on our birthright trip have boyfriends. So immediately, my intentions are different. In the past, meeting a girl has driven my behavior and decisions, causing me to ‘clique-off’ and dedicate too much time to girls that I wanted to hook up with.

In just 10 days on Birthright, I made some absolutely amazing friends. Truly valuable and unique relationships, especially given the 240 hour time frame. And really, I’m not so certain that some of these friendships would exist if I’d spent half of those hours looking for a girl, rather than really talking, opening up, and getting to know people.

Maybe I’m wrong. I certainly lucked out, and got to be on a group with some absolutely amazing people. But I can only speak from my own personal experience, and I think there’s something to be said about hanging out with a group of people, with the main intention being enjoying each other.”

-Josh Ludin, 26. From Huntington Beach, California