Sammy Spider's First Siren

Well it’s been a hell of a week and a bit. 

When I decided to come back to Israel in January, I weighed many scenarios, including a regional war with Iran getting involved. I decided that was wildly unlikely and that if it happened, the iron dome would protect me. Which it did! Thank god. But man was the attack from Iran inconvenient. 

On Thursday when news came that an attack from Iran would be coming in the next 24-48 hours, I got nervous. Everywhere I walked I kept an eye out for where I would run in case sirens went off. It was stressful to live on the edge like that at all times. I had the option to be in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem when said attack would happen and I was sure that Jerusalem would be safer so I stayed in my apartment. I cannot believe I was wrong on that one. 

Because of Passover, our spring break started on Thursday. So the plan was to get on a plane Sunday morning at 5am for Vilna with many of my classmates. We would travel around Vilna and then Warsaw and then separate to lead Seders around Poland. With the prospect of an attack from Iran, I was reassured to know that I already had a flight booked to get out. I guess the idea of air space closing had not crossed my mind. 

Saturday night, I went to the protest for elections and to free the hostages. I was nervous about being at a large gathering when sirens might go off so I left pretty soon after I arrived. And then, since I had to leave for the airport at 1:30am, I fell asleep around 10pm. Shortly after I fell asleep, Iranian drones were launched and on their way to Israeli airspace. While asleep, I received many texts from my wonderful, worried parents and my teacher leading the trip who alerted us that Israeli airspace was closed and our flight would be cancelled. I half woke up to see these texts, couldn’t be bothered, and immediately fell back asleep. Apparently half asleep Shayna only cares about getting back to being fully asleep. And then at 2am I woke up to a loud boom and the windows in my apartment shaking. The way my body responded reminded me of waking up to an earthquake in California. I walked out to the living room of my apartment to find my roommates calm and collected. And then the siren went off. My roommates were in Israel on October 7th and throughout the war so they knew what to do, which was beyond helpful for panicky Shayna who had never heard a siren before. Since we don’t have a bomb shelter or a protected staircase, my roommates closed all of our blinds and told me to stand in the most inner part of the apartment.  I sat on the floor, shaking. We turned on the news, I called my parents, and tried to keep calm. I imagined writing a children’s book called “Sammy Spider’s First Siren” and that made me smile and kept me distracted. 

After fifteen minutes, my roommates said it was safe to go back to our rooms and that they were going to try to get some sleep. I couldn’t imagine going back to sleep after that. But I got into bed and watched CNN on my computer. Next thing I knew, it was the morning and I woke up to the director of our program checking in on all of us to make sure we were okay. Thank God, I was. 

And then it was time to figure out what to do about our missed flight to Lithuania. About five of my classmates (a third of the trip) had already left for Vilna the day before. So the trip was on and now it was up to us to get ourselves there. Some of my friends decided to cancel and stay in Israel for break, totally understandable. But I really wanted to go on the trip and even more so, really wanted to get out of Israel. So I called a cab to Ben Gurion Airport. The streets were quiet and the roads were empty. 

And then I had the most Israeli experience ever at the airport. As soon as I walked in, I ran into friends from the Bay Area who were also trying to get a flight. We took a selfie (of course) and sent it to my parents. 

And then I went to the line to try to get tickets on an airline called Israir (yes it’s as bad as it sounds). And it was not a line but a giant blob of people yelling at the one agent. Sunday was also the first day of spring break for Israeli schools so a lot of peoples’ flights were cancelled and a lot of people were trying to get out. As I stood in the blob, I noticed that the families around me were also trying to get to Warsaw. We started talking to each other about our plans and how terrible the airline is, which led one of them to make a WhatsApp group with all the people trying to get to Warsaw on this Israir flight. Where else in the world would that happen?? When I finally got to the front of the blob, the agent put me on the waitlist for the flight. And by waitlist I mean he wrote my name and phone number on the back of an old boarding pass. At this point I was fairly confident I would not be getting on that flight. 

So I got on the train to Tel Aviv to be with my cousins who had graciously invited me to stay with them. And they had takeout from my favorite Tel Aviv restaurant waiting for me when I arrived! I took a very long nap at their apartment and then met up with my roommate who had also decided to spend the day in Tel Aviv. And in Tel Aviv everything was so normal. You would have no idea Iran had attacked the night before. We sat at a cafe and I scoured the internet for flights to Eastern Europe. I was most definitely (like my dad) a travel agent in a past life. I booked a flight for two days from then and then went with my roommate to the beach to watch the sunset. The calm after the storm was unreal. 

At dinner, my wonderful friend Levi (who was also a travel agent in a past life) called to tell me that he had found a way to get to Vilna the next day. We got our friend Danielle on board and booked our flights. Our teacher assured us to book the flight whatever it cost, that the Jewish people would help us pay for it :). 

And so the next day, I met Levi and Danielle at Ben Gurion, where it was much calmer than the day before. We checked in and went through security with ease. I cannot explain the joy we felt sitting on that plane as it took off and left Israeli airspace. 

And then we landed in Larnaca, Cyprus. From Cyprus we flew to Vienna, where we sprinted to catch our next flight. From Vienna we flew to Warsaw. And then Levi rented a car and drove us the six hours to our apartments and classmates waiting for us in Vilna. 

It was perhaps the most insane travel journey I have ever been on. But it was worth it to get to this journey in Eastern Europe. And it wasn’t so bad with such good friends by my side. When we arrived in Vilna around 3 in the morning, we were absolutely ready for a night of sleep. 

And then the real pilgrimage began…