Sofia Lazcano-Fafard, a Concordia University undergraduate student in Political Science with a minor in History, loved every minute of the “Constructing Israeli Identities” program. She talks about the advantages of the Concordia-Bar-Ilan partnership, the BIU students-cum- tour guides, the classroom vs. the field-study parts of the program, and some of the highlights.
Concordia-Bar-Ilan Partnership
The relationship between Concordia University and Bar-Ilan University was absolutely essential for such a quality experience, and it was enhanced by the relationship my professor, Csaba (Prof. Csaba Nikolenyi), has with Shawn (Prof. Shawn Zelig Aster from Bar-Ilan). If it was just Concordia using a regular tour company, I don’t think it would’ve been the same.
A university course where you have faculty members and students guiding you is a real privilege; it’s very, very cool, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to see the way things are in Israel from the inside, from people’s personal viewpoints, and to learn about Israel in all its aspects.
In the beginning, I didn’t know that all of our tour guides were Bar-Ilan undergraduate and graduate students who knew each other and were part of Bar-Ilan’s Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology Department. I thought it was awesome. Not only did they all know each other, but they also understood us and where we were coming from as fellow students. We got so much more from their connections to each other, to their individual communities, and to the country, whether Jewish or Arab.
It was like constantly revisiting an old friend, but every time you saw that old friend, they added something new to the table. I think that helped a lot and I loved it. The tour guides were fantastic.
We got real insider information from the guides and the individuals in the different communities (who were often the same). We heard the opinions of those who live here. Even though the short interactions probably aren’t sufficient to be able to have a global understanding of all the views of everyone, which is impossible even if you’ve lived here all your life, it was definitely a lot more helpful than just a regular standardized tour. It doesn’t compare.
Academic Aspects
At the beginning of the program, we spent a little time in the classroom at Bar-Ilan University going over the history, chronology, and archaeology of Israel, among other areas, but most of it was in the field where we got to actually experience everything we had discussed, see the places, and discover all the elements.
However, it wasn’t just sightseeing. After almost every field trip we went on, we had to do a summary of what we had observed and were given the opportunity to ask questions. We were also assigned an article written by a professor on a relevant topic and we had to provide a summary of it and present it to everyone. Our final paper was a descriptive paper of what we had observed about a certain topic. Everything we did academically was for credit towards the course.
With an academic tour, you also learn so much more as you’re more focused on remembering everything, especially if you actually have to report back on everything you’ve heard. When it’s just a regular tour, there isn’t that self-expectation to work hard. So definitely, it helped with not only the quality of the tour itself, but also the expectations you set up for yourself. I think being with students from Bar-Ilan was probably the best-case scenario.
Highlights
I loved everything about this course and the trip. We visited so many exciting and fascinating places, but I think maybe Masada was my favorite or one of them. Ein Gedi, the oasis in the desert, and the Dead Sea as well as the archaeological sites we saw were all highlights.
Jerusalem as a whole was unbelievable because there’s so much to experience. The Old City, the underground tunnels, everything was so worth it. The tour guides were amazing in Jerusalem, all of them. While we were walking around, they pointed out so many different things and told us the story of everything we passed. That’s when I realized, oh my goodness, there’s too much history in this place. Yes, Jerusalem was definitely one of my favorites.
