Flying to Israel

Getting there.

After I got my boarding pass I had to go through a passport control at the Barcelona airport, then as I was boarding the plane the lady looked at me and said "do you have a visa" no i told her then she gave me this weird look and sent me off, that worried me the entire plane ride. Coming from Barcelona to tel Aviv I was the only American on my flight. As soon as I landed in Israel and looked outside and saw the Palm trees my nerves calmed down a bit. For some reason palm trees are my happy tree and always make me feel at home. I got out and there were so many people in the airport i was stunned, it was 12;30 at night I've never seen an airport so busy. Passport control looked like a mess. It was just a big area flooded with people. there were two sections, international and national but other than that there seemed to e no organization. Passport issues always make me nervous, i picked a "line" to stand in even though I was in about three different lines and finally made it up to the front. When I got there the guy asked me my purpose, how long I was staying, if i knew anyone- what was their name, I was extremely honest and just told him Iam here for a week to see the country. Finally he stamped my passport and I was in. I got my bag and tried to look for a taxi, then I realized that I forgot to get Israeli money so I had to go back into the airport where I was harassed by another security guy asking why I wanted to go back into the airport. My parents set me up in a hotel for the first night since I was getting in so late and had no idea about anything. It was really nice of them to do that. Driving to the hotel I was just looking around and trying to see as much as I could, everything seemed so different but really there were the same H&M's all over Europe and big billboard signs you would see anywhere else. We reach the hotel I paid him and didn't tip him, i'm still not sure about the tipping rules here... The hotel was very stark and it kind of scared me to be there by myself. I was just really overwhelmed. I washed my underwear and socks in the tub and then headed to sleep. This is going to be my life now, washing my clothes when I can and sleeping where ever.