My man Ronen met me at the airport early in the morning and we took a bus back to his place in Tel Aviv. Despite being a little hopped up from not sleeping the previous night, Ronen made the awesome suggestion that the first thing I do upon my arrival is swim in the Mediterranean Sea, only about two blocks from his apartment. And so we did, at about 8 in the morning. Threw the frisbee around on the beautiful beach before embarking to Jerusalem to register for my program.
It was a bit of a trek, carrying all my luggage and whatnot, but eventually we made it. I quickly came to the realization, which would come to be reinforced time and again, that things work differently in Israel. The registration process was rather disorganized. I ended up waiting for a good four hours and wasn't able to get my pre-ordered cell phone until later in the week. Not to be a downer, however. Life is different here, not necessarily worse. People are warm, but not particularly receptive. For instance, cars will stop for you at a crosswalk to allow you to pass, but they'll come awfully close to you to show that they're not completely pleased about it. Also, cats are everywhere. And people, I suppose understandably, aren't too thrilled about it. But I love it! Kitties! Another thing is the security. Almost anywhere you go, guards check your bags. And before we enter any university building we have to show our student IDs.
I live in a dormitory on the Mount Scopus (named as such for it's view of the city) campus of Hebrew University in what's called the Students-Village, or Kfar HaStudentim. I'm in a five-bedroom apartment, and I've got 3 roommates. I had 4, but the last, an Israeli graduate student, Tzachy, who showed me and another roommate and good friend, Hannah, around the old city and to his favorite hummus joint (a highly debated issue), recently left to India. I've got my own room which is pretty nicely sized, and there's a kitchen and a bathroom. To save water, there are two flush buttons!
The weekend here is on Friday and Saturday, but from Sunday-Thursday I am in the Ulpan, an intensive language immersion program. It starts at 8:15 AM and goes until 1:15 PM, with 45 minutes of break-time, whence we go outside and lay around the grass under the hot sun in the middle of the nice campus. It's learning Hebrew the whole time. The material is fine, and the teachers do their best to mix the lessons up to keep it from getting tedious, but the fact of the matter is that we're learning one subject continuously, so it gets boring. Waking up early and constantly being in class reminds me a lot of high school. Bleh. It's cool, though, that I'm greatly improving in Hebrew, albeit a rather specified skill. In a more general sense, I suppose learning a language offers a special type of learning, which is good for my brain. Ish? It's also rather fascinating how many different types of people come to Israel to learn Hebrew (the Ulpan is required by the International Program that I'm on, but not exclusively associated with it). In my class alone there are Jews from France and a Far East country (disclaimer: not to say that they're all the same and lack individuality. I just don't know the dude too well), non-Jews from Spain and the U.K., and Arabs from Jerusalem.
Outside of the Ulpan, life is great. I'm meeting tons of people from all over the world, although primarily from the U.S. and Canada. The program I'm on offers activities to make our stay here more enjoyable, like a hike in the Golan that I went on last weekend, or tours of the city. There's a really nice gym that I joined right across the street (Name that quote: "I've been keeping busy... I joined a gym." Answer.) with great exercise equipment and a lot of nice tennis courts that I've been playing on with some people I met from the program. We're a bit isolated from downtown Jerusalem, so it's been a bit more difficult than I would have hoped to mingle with Israelis, but it helps that I've got friends here, who I've met up with a couple times and have met some of their friends too. It's about a 15 minute bus-ride to the center of the city. There is a bangin' falafel joint right down the street which, hard as it is to say, is even better than my beloved Pita Kabob in Ann Arbor. They fry up the falafel right in front of you and it is delicious.
So the Ulpan goes until the 24th of September. The day after, I'm flying to Athens and then going on a 9-day Greek Islands tour, then 3 nights in Istanbul. It will be a nice present for finishing. I have an advising appointment in about 10 days to sign up for classes, which start October 16.
I've been wondering a lot what I'm doing here. I spent so much time awaiting and preparing for this, and now it's finally here, and I'm thinking, "So I'm here... but why, again?" This is, I suppose, part of the whole experience, growing and whatnot. I am indeed meeting lots of people, learning about the world, and myself, and even branching out and dancing with Arabs at a Hostel in the North. So I'm okay with the wondering. I'm not worried about it, and not seeking any sort of conclusion. But it's what's been on my mind occasionally so I thought I'd share.
Oh. And I think I've decided to come home in January and February, and then go to study in Tel Aviv, rather than my initial plan of traveling around Europe during the break. It'll be fun to go to sporting events and hang out with my friends who won't be abroad and whatnot. And my family, too. What up.
Meeting up with my great friend Nir tomorrow and together going to the North to Ronen's Kibbutz, apparently within walking distance of Lebanon, for a girl's birthday party. It's located on a river. I'm really excited to meet people and see a new lifestyle.
לילה טוב חברים = Laila Tov Chaverim = Good Night Friends
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