Going to the country where your roots are can be a dream come true for most people, and for two NIU students, it was.

Michael Nixon, a senior business management major, recently traveled to Israel to experience the religion and culture firsthand.

“I loved it there,” Nixon said. “I would encourage everyone to go there, no matter what religion or which nation you are from.”

Billionaires Michael Steinhardt and Charles Bronfman of Seagrams were just two of the sponsors for the trip.

“There is a big fear that there won’t be a Jewish community because of integration,” Nixon said. “So a bunch of businesses got together to send teen-agers to Israel so they can know where they came from.”

Vita Gold, a sophomore elementary education major, also visited Israel with a conservative group named Koach. She was one of the first people picked through a lottery.

“People were making jokes that I would get blown up or be held hostage,” Gold said. “My parents even joked about getting me a bullet-proof vest with matching nylons. But they were really supportive about me going.”

In Israel, Nixon and Gold had a chance to see most of the holy sites. One of Nixon’s favorite places was the Western Wall, a place for prayer and pilgrimage that is sacred for Jewish people. It marks the only remains of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

“It is a significant place,” Nixon said. “Going there helped increase my spirituality.”

The site most memorable for Gold was Massada, the last stronghold mountain where Jews killed themselves rather than give in to a Roman invasion.

“I heard about that when I was little,” Gold said. “It was amazing just being there and praying.”

Another memorable moment for Nixon was meeting former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, with whom he shook hands.

He said he found Israel safe.

“People don’t steal from others, and there aren’t shootings there like there are here,” Nixon said. “There is tight security everywhere. At the airport, we had to go through three security checks before we even boarded the plane.”

An Israeli army soldier went with Nixon everywhere, he added.

Language wasn’t a problem because everyone the students met in Israel spoke English. But Israelis are more rushed, Nixon said. Stores and businesses are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., excluding Friday and Saturday, which mark the Sabbath.

“You can hardly see any cars on the road,” Nixon said. “Everything is shut down.”

“Everyone would walk everywhere [during Sabbath],” Gold added. “It was like a national thing.”

Israel is a melting pot of culture, Nixon said.

“150,000 Filipinos live there,” he said. “More Christians go to visit there than Jews. One time when I was at a museum, I saw some nuns there. It’s a place for everyone to go.”

Both students hope to go back one day.

“I fell in love with it,” Nixon said. “It’s so beautiful there. Words can’t describe it.”

“I would go back there in a heartbeat,” Gold said.