From participant Gary Hofman

After a 3 hour flight we arrived in eretz yisrael! The atmosphere here is incredible. Just arriving and feeling the buzz I knew that my stay here was going to be a major contrast to Poland. We were herded straight onto a bus and drove to Quesaria. Quesaria was the most beautiful place I have ever been... Seriously!!! At Quesaria we ate the best breakfast of our lives. We all participated in Shacharit by the sea and sang and danced before exploring the ruins of King Herod's original city. After Quesaria we ventured to Atlit where we explored the illegal Immigrants Detention Camp which bore very close similarities to a concentration camp. We then drove to Akko where we checked into the youth hostel and had a well deserved sleep.

After a good nights sleep we all traveled to kibbutz lochamei haghettaot or in english "kibbutz of the ghetto fighters". There we went to a holocaust museum. To be honest I personally was a bit apprehensive as I thought we learnt it all in Poland however it was very informative . We then continued to Rosh HaNikra which was incredible. We visited the Lebanon border before catching the cable cars down to the bottom, and we explored the caves which were so beautiful. Afterwards our buses split up as we went to our (P2K or) sister city's. The whole New Zealand group went to Kiryat Yam where it had been organised that we met the mayor and he gave us all " I heart kiriat yam " tshirts. The hospitality was amazing there and we all went to our host family where we were all overfed! Interesting fact, my host family was related to the mayor.

After freshening up the whole group met up at one of the schools in Kiryat Yam and watched a ceremony for Yom HaZikaron which was very emotional. When the ceremony concluded we all split up. I returned to my host families home where he had some friends over and we all joked and listened to music before going to sleep. The next morning I woke up to an enormous breakfast and then went over to my host bro or achi's friend house and had the best coffee I have ever tasted and bestest baked goods ever! I then went to my host bros school where we parted which was very upsetting because I wanted to stay longer and spend more time with him. We were taken to another school all wearing our "I heart kiriat yam" shirts and met more of the towns population.  Romance bloomed when a girl sang for me and then asked me to be her boyfriend... Which I accepted... Slicha nashim. After Lawrence parted me and my love we were taken to the buses where we had to leave the town, our new friends and loves. Israel has been so amazing and I cannot wait to see more!!!!!

From participant Annette Levine

Today was, I can say with confidence, the best day of 10 thousand peoples lives. Today was the March of the Living. Everyone assembled at Auschwitz I. The amount of people was mind blowing. To be able to talk to Jews from all over the States, Europe, South America.. all over the world was something really special, and exciting. At one point, I was in an area where there were more Israeli Police members than there were marchers.

We all got into our positions and marched to Auschwitz II. We were all wearing our blue march jackets. Looking back on the crowd of people was heart warming. A sea of blue, all here for the same reason. To salute the liberators and rescuers, honor the survivors, remember the 6 million, take a stand against discrimination and preach equality and peace.

I met lots of Polish people who aren't Jewish, who traveled hours to be at the March. I asked one why they came, and he told me that it was very important to remember what happened, because it must never happen again. It touched me that even non-Jews in Poland who are still surrounded by anti-Semitism understand how important remembrance of the holocaust is.

When we arrived at Birkenau, you could see wooden signs everywhere, covering the tracks that people had written on. Names of family members, quotes..anything. It was so beautiful.

The ceremony was done perfectly. I wasn't expecting it to impact me in such a way. Survivors and liberators prayed for their family members who they lost, and we prayed with them. We heard amazing stories from them. We ended with Hatikvah. We sang the Jewish anthem and prayed in a concentration camp. It was the most powerful thing I've ever done. We came into Auschwitz, and then we left. We got to walk out of there, unharmed, untouched. It was our way of showing that The Final Solution was a failure.

From participant Alon Kruger

6:45 wake up, to say we were tired would be the understatement of the century. After breakfast we braved the cold and walked to Kasmierz: the Jewish quarter of krakow. The first thing that stood out was the Hebrew written on signs. There was a real sense of Judaism here. Kosher restaurants bragged cuisine such as roast goose, cholent and "Jewish style carp fish". These and the old buildings gave a small insight into how life would have been in the Jewish community here In pre-war Poland.

A visit to the Oskar Schindler factory/museum was next. A lengthy tour provided a detailed account of the Jews in the Krakow ghetto, their struggle and the 1100 saved by Oskar schindler. The museum was inspiring to say the least. After a quick lunch we met with the liberators of some of the camps. These people are real heroes. My groups liberator, Harvey; landed in normandy, fought at the battle of the bulge and liberated a sub camp of buchenwald. Harvey's stories obviously brought back memories from this time and you could see how difficult it was for him to talk about. This was definitely the highlight of the day for me, and many others. I think it is incredible that we are lucky enough to be able to march with both survivors and their liberators.