Sydney's Unlikely Journey to Mayanot!

Hello everyone and good Shabbos.
This winter-break I had the opportunity to spend three amazing weeks in Jerusalem studying on a Mayanot program. The Mayanot program I attended was an all-girl yeshiva, or as the rabbi there would say ..it is not a religious program, but a Jewish studies program.
Now, if you would had asked me 3 years ago if I would have even considered going to study at a yeshiva… willingly for 3 weeks, I would have thought you were crazy. I was always that girl in Sunday school never paying attention to what the rabbi was saying and occasionally getting kicked out of the class... (sorry rabbi zev)
But through Chabad on campus and the Sinai scholar’s program I was exposed to a different view on Judaism that I found interesting and that I wanted to incorporate more of Judaism in my life.
Getting off the plane at Ben-Gurion, I was very nervous because I was going into a yeshiva program without knowing anyone there, I had no idea what to expect and was worried that th…