It’s Day 2 here for Lukas and I in Jerusalem, and we just got in from exploring the city and our surroundings. There is so much to see here, and we are trying to take it all in and learn our way around the city.

After Lukas and I arrived in Jerusalem yesterday afternoon, we spent the evening walking around the Old City and reminiscing on our previous trips here. Lukas knows his way around the city better than I do, which is incredibly helpful because I am terrible with directions and navigation. Our apartment is in the perfect location – we can see Damascus Gate, one of the entrances into the Old City, from our apartment window. We didn’t spend too much time exploring, because we both had a hectic day of travel, and I am adjusting to a seven hour time-zone difference. Today, we spent the morning exploring Ben Yehuda and Jaffa Streets, which have loads of restaurants, bars, and places to shop. After taking a break this afternoon, we found ourselves back in the Old City, where we explored the areas we weren’t as familiar with. At one point, we found stairs that led to the roofs of some buildings, and there was a gorgeous view of Temple Mount. Later on we found ourselves lost and walking along the outside wall of the Old City, and eventually we made our way home. Tonight, we are going to be meeting with one of Lukas’ friends for drinks.

The average person probably would have no idea that there are issues concerning water here. No one seems in desperate need, and its fairly easy and cheap to buy a bottle of water. Of course, we aren’t in the West Bank, where the issue is more prevalent, but if you look closely you can see some divides here in Jerusalem. Some homes in certain neighborhoods have black water jugs to catch rain water. From some of my background research and my previous visit, I’ve been told that these neighborhoods are mostly Arab. While walking around today Lukas and I didn’t even notice them at first – but once you see them, they become hard to miss. These jugs clearly show divides between people within Jerusalem.

Tomorrow we are hoping to go into Ramallah and start contacting some organizations for our research. Hopefully we wont get too lost along the way, but with my lack of directional skills, we will probably get at least a little confused.

Here are some pictures from these first couple of days!

This first photo is a view from our apartment. It’s hard to make out, but on the right side you can see Damascus Gate and the Old City. We got so lucky with our apartment. The location is perfect, and we don’t have to walk very far to see famous sites, go out to eat, or go shopping.

This is the Western Wall with the Temple Mount (the gold building on the left). These are two of the most iconic images of Jerusalem and Israel. Jerusalem in general is gorgeous, but when we were on this overlook looking out at these two historic sites is one of my favorite parts of Jerusalem.

Another picture of the Temple Mount. Lukas and I found ourselves lost in the Old City, and somehow ended up on the roof of some buildings. We hope that we can find this place again, because it is so peaceful looking out above Jerusalem.

Sitting in front of me is a growing checklist of everything I have to get done before I leave Virginia in 5 days and embark on my journey to Israel and the West Bank. I cannot believe how quickly time has passed since I first found out I was going to be a Peacebuilder’s Fellow, and now that I’m just a few days out from my trip, I can’ t help but feel overwhelmed and excited. I’ve been spending what little free time I have researching issues related to the water crisis in the region. Like every other issue involving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, it is a very complicated problem, but for me that is what makes this research even intriguing, and I know we will learn some amazing, heartbreaking, and inspiring stories from the Palestinian people.

This isn’t my first journey to Israel and the West Bank. In March 2012, I had the opportunity to learn more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a study abroad program sponsored by my undergraduate university, and it was during this time I fell in love with the region. My experiences encouraged me to pursue a career in conflict resolution and international diplomacy, and since then I’ve been dreaming of the time that I can return to the land that I fell in love with. I’ve just dug up my journal where I kept a daily log of everything I experienced when I was there before, which has made me even more excited to begin this two month adventure.

Planning this trip has been a whirlwind, to say the least. Like Lukas mentioned below, there were a few hiccups that made prepping for our adventure more stressful than anticipated. But we’ve got our tickets booked and an apartment reserved (and it’s super close to the Old City, which was my favorite place in Israel when I visited previously), so it’s just a matter of packing and traveling to Tel Aviv.

While this blog will be updated regularly with our research and the stories we obtain,there are so many places to see in Israel and the West  Bank, and Lukas and I plan on taking advantage of every opportunity presented to us. I will be creating a personal blog sharing these experiences, check out allycollender.wordpress.com or follow me on twitter – @allycollender