El Al

When we arrived at JFK around ten am yesterday, we (my friend Evan and I) expected to go to the El Al desk, check in, and go through all of the security checkpoints so as to get into the terminal and find a place to relax and eat while waiting for our flight. The desk was not open, however, so we ended up sitting in front of it for four hours. It wasn't that bad, because we ended up meeting a lot of the other American students who were going with us. We eventually discovered that El Al only had one flight leaving JFK that day, and that it happened to be the flight that we were all booked on. Finally, the desks opened and we began the check-in process. we all got into a long line and waited for one of seven airline security representatives to call us forward and ask us questions. The ticket counter was surrounded by heavily armed TSA police, and each of the security representatives looked fresh out of the army. When I was finally called forward, my interrogator asked me where I was going, where I was from, where I took Hebrew (he was surprised to know that I didn't speak a word of it) and finally, why I had been to Jordan. He was very interested in this last point, questioning me extensively on my travels in that country. I even got questioned by the supervisor about it after he was finished. Finally, we were allowed to step forward, check our bags, and proceed through the TSA security station. We thought our checks were over and that we could finally relax. We were wrong. Once we got to the gate, the gentiles were called into a "back room" which was a broom closet packed with a metal detector and an x-ray scanner. Here, the security officers went through our checked bags by hand and had us go through the x-ray machine while also going through each of our papers one more time. At this point, I was exhausted and ready for everything to be over with. It all worked out in the end though, as the security officers, sensing our exhaustion and recognizing our level of cooperation, allowed us to board the plane first. The flight was great, and the food was good. I sat next to an old Orthodox Jewish man who looked a lot like Dumbledore, and we talked at length about my trip and what I wanted to study. Eventually we all fell asleep, and when we woke up, we were in Israel.