Israel: The First 3 Weeks.

I arrived in Israel on September 24 and it was in the middle of Sukkot. I had 2 weeks to settle into my apartment and life here, get to know my neighborhood and catch up with friends. It was a crazy 2 weeks.

I managed to reconnect with friends on the beach in Tel Aviv, at the supposed best chummus place in Jerusalem and while swimming in a natural spring outside of Jerusalem. I was also lucky to go on a camping trip up north where we swam in and slept next to the Jordan River and saw gorgeous views of the area. It was definitely nice to have had this time to spend reacquainting myself with the country and friends.

I have been trying to keep up my running and I am lucky to live near a park here in Jerusalem called Gan Sacher. It seems to be a pretty social area and I believe they are a lot of concerts and festivals that take place there. I run past an old Greek Monastery than head to a more open area. I usually go in the morning so its pretty quiet there but it is always an eclectic mix of people; runners, religious men praying, bikers, religious women running in pants with skirts over them, army units who are training, hippies playing frisbee, basically anything you could imagine. I am continually pleasantly surprised by something each time I go to the park. Only in Jerusalem.

I am really enjoying my neighborhood so far. It's called Rehavia. It has a mix of people living in it as well. In the beginning because of the holidays there were a lot of religious Jews from the states here who seemed to be taking over but its become much more pleasant post holiday season and now that more students have moved in school. I live about a 20+ minute walk from the "city center" - Ben Yehudah Street and the bar area. Its very nice not being dependent on public transportation all the time. This city is obviously very old and there is no organized layout so of course the traffic can be ridiculous at times.

On my way to the city center I pass what could be called a new living memorial in honor of Gilad Shalit, a soldier that was captured over 1572 days ago by Hamas. You may ask, why does she know how many days? Well when you pass the area multiple times in a day its kind of hard to forget what you are seeing. Gilad's father, and I am sure other members of his family, spend a lot of time there and people are constantly coming, bringing food, talking with people who pass and handing out yellow ribbons and t-shirt in honor of Gilad. Last night I walked by after dinner and there was a long table set up and they were just finishing up a shabbat meal. People are very dedicated to his cause, he is a national icon. It can be difficult to walk by so many times in one day, it really makes you think.

From my apartment we have a view of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), its lit up at night which looks nice. There is a beautiful breeze in the city and so we keep a lot of our windows open in the apartment, I get the best breeze in my room, I love it. Often you will hear different people singing, playing music or little kids laughing and playing, I also manage to smell peoples cooking which at times can be frustrating because I only wish I could know what it was or possibly have a little taste; it smells incredible.

This past week I celebrated my 25th birthday here. I actually did not have classes that day and I ended up having a relaxing, productive day. I went for a run and ran errands in the morning. In the afternoon I went out to lunch with my friends Polina and Idan at a restaurant in my neighborhood that I have been looking forward to trying out. It was a beautiful day outside and I enjoyed their company. For dinner I went with a few more friends to a restaurant in Jerusalem, a nice place with great atmosphere. It was the perfect day.

This was my first Shabbat staying in Jerusalem. Yesterday afternoon I decided to run to the grocery store to get some food because most places are closed on Shabbat. I pick up what I needed and proceeded to wait in line for possibly close to a half an hour. I tried to be really patient but I will do my best to avoid shopping at that time of the week ever again. I told my roommate Polina what had happened and she looked at me like "duh." I have learned my lesson. Polina's parents came for the evening and we had dinner with them at the apartment, Polina, her mother and I went for a walk after dinner. As soon as we stepped outside I could hear families singing shabbat songs. We walked all around the neighborhood, it was so beautiful and relaxing, barely any cars out and in every house people were sitting around their table talking and singing, you could hear the clanking of plates everywhere we went. There were some people out on the streets but I think I may have seen just as many stray cats waiting for dinner. These are my first discoveries of Shabbat in Jerusalem, I am sure there will be many more.

On completion of my first week of Graduate School...

For those of you who missed the memo, I am back in Israel, this time studying for a Masters degree called Community Leadership & Philanthropy, basically a degree in Non-Profit Management. I have decided to start a new blog but will be going a little out of order in updating you on my experiences over the past 3 weeks here in Israel. Yes, there is a lot that has happened but I believe as I did come here to earn my Graduate degree from Hebrew University, it is important to begin with stories from my first week of classes.

Often when I talk with people about the crazy things that happen in this country I begin by saying, "Only in Israel..." On my last adventure here my friends and I kept a mental list of the unreal experience, stories, words, people and situations we would encounter on a regular basis. I have decided to try and approach my blog from this angle and after my first week of school I think I have been able to take this saying to a new level, "Only at Hebrew University, in the Rothberg International School..." This is what I experienced my first week of classes:

• Hearing the call to prayer up to 3 times during the school day
• Seeing a monk in the hallway
• Classes filled with Muslims, Christians and Jews
• Students from Israel, the US, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, England, Germany, Korea, Australia and the list continues...
• Multiple pregnant women, both religious and not
• 25% of my Hebrew Ulpan class is of Korean decent and
• Unbelievable views from every direction you look including East Jerusalem, the Security Fence, the Dead Sea and Jordan. (The picture is from an outdoor amphitheater on campus which has a view looking East of Jerusalem.) 

Overall the first week went well. In my program there are about 15 other people starting with me. We have most of our classes together. It is a pretty diverse group ranging from people who are 23 to 45+, a lot of people have made aliyah in the past few years. Most of the students are from America but we have 2 South Americans as well. It should be a much different, more intimate experience than I had as an undergraduate. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone else in the program and our professors.