As this amazing trip comes to an end I want to make sure that I take every last opportunity to strengthen the friendships I have made so far. As we are all taking the bus to the campsite for the Shabbaton I can already tell it is going to be one of the most memorable moments of this trip. Throughout the Shabbaton we are spending time with our friends davening, playing volleyball and basketball, and enjoying our time together. After a wonderful afternoon of getting closer with my old and new friends, the time has come for Havdalah. We all gather together in one big 
circle, putting our arms around each other while singing. Suddenly, I take a second and look around to appreciate this beautiful moment since I thought it would be one of the last with this incredible group of people.
Once we received our phones back after Shabbat I did not feel the need to go on it. I realized that I would much rather spend these last hours with my friends than catching up on social media. As I walked into the main building to go get a drink I noticed that not many people were on their phones, they were just sitting 
and having conversations. I loved seeing this, how we could all be on our phones but we all felt that we should spend this time together. As a result of this, we decide to make a campfire. This campfire was not planned which makes it that much better. Sitting around the campfire was a choice that all of us made as individuals to take part in. As a group, we sang and danced for hours around this fire making sure that it wouldn’t go out. We wanted to keep this campfire alive just like we all wish to keep the friendships we made on this trip. We only want them to get stronger and to not let them burn out since we made lifelong friends on this trip. ~Sarah
