I gave in. My first five days in Israel.

I swore I wouldn't. I never read blogs, I never made them. But, after a couple weeks of being here, it started to seem more difficult to send emails to people telling me what I've been up to. I figured this way, I could let everyone know I have the blog, and they could choose to either follow it or not. I won't be offended if you don't read it. In all honesty, I probably wouldn't read yours. I find keeping up with the details of people's lives to be difficult. But here it is, in case you want it.

I've been in Israel two and a half weeks so far. So much has already happened. I sent an email to some family, so I'll just post it here so you can get what happened the first few days.

Here it is:

Hello!

This is now my fifth day in Israel, and so far, it has been amazing. I'll start from the beginning.

The flight was pretty good. I slept most of the time, so it didn't feel too long (although I woke up every couple of hours and fell back asleep). When we got into the airport in Tel Aviv around 6:40 am Israel time, after going through customs and getting our bags and everything, we had buses take us to our dorms in Mount Scopus, Jerusalem. Everyone was meeting each other, talking and being friendly. We got our room assignments and had some forms to fill out on the bus, and I then got to my room, after a hard schlep of my 3 suitcases and backpack up the many stairs to the dorms. (I took two trips.)

The dorms are apartment suite style, with five singles sharing a kitchen, little living area, and bathrooms (two toilets, one shower). Anyway, I got to my apartment, and the key to my room wasn't really working. So after talking to a couple people, I got in, but then couldn't re-lock my door, so later in the day maintenance came and fixed it. I didn't meet all my roommates at that time, but I'll tell you about them all now. There is an Israeli girl who I haven't spoken to much, but who seemed very nice. An American girl named Miriam showed me around everything, and has helped me with any questions I've had. She just went off to Europe for three weeks, as the international students who were here since the beginning of the year now are on break. I have a French roommate who doesn't speak very much English, but we always just say hi to each other. I hope that once I brush up on my Hebrew skills and we can communicate a bit better, I might be able to learn a little French from her. And lastly, another French roommate who is moving out in a couple weeks, so we'll see who replaces her.

Anyway, Wednesday was spent settling in, figuring things out, and then we had a campus tour (and I'm starting to kind of know my way around by now), and then they took us to the mall to buy whatever we couldn't fit in our suitcases, like pillows and comforters. And, of course, I had my first falafel. By the time we got back, everyone was exhausted, so a few of us just hung out in one of our apartments for a bit and went to bed.

Thursday, some students who had been here for first semester had a bagel brunch in their apartment for the new students, so I went there and did some socializing, met some new people, etc. Later, we had orientation, which was mostly boring and unnecessary, but we talked a bit about some useful things. We also bought some more things we needed at the campus store, including books for Hebrew class (called Ulpan). Then, we went to the supermarket, which was a whole adventure, especially considering it was difficult to tell what everything was. But I managed pretty well, I think, and by the time that was done, we were again tired, still recovering from traveling and meeting these many new people. So again, we just relaxed and talked in my friend's apartment, and then went to sleep.

Friday I slept in, and then my friend who lives off campus came over around 3:15 because the buses stop running for Shabbat. So we just hung out and stuff until 6:45, when we left to go meet everyone for our big Shabbat dinner. We went to a nearby hotel, and there was an abundance of food, and we just had a lot of fun talking, and we met a few new people there. Afterwards, a couple friends came back to my apartment this time to hang out.

Yesterday, Saturday, we had a fun kiddush and lunch thing, where there was more socializing and meeting people. After that, I took a nap before a few of us met at 3:00 to take a walk. We tried to find our way to the Old City, but we took a wrong turn and ended up just heading back and walking around Mount Scopus for a bit. There are some really amazing views here. After that, there was a Seudat Shlishit, the third meal of Shabbat, which is usually like a light dinner, at the Student Center here, where I again met some new people and learned about some things that go on through the Student Center (including free laundry! I'd have to bring it there, but it's not far from my dorms, so if I don't have too much, I will definitely take advantage of that.) Then we made Havdalah, the prayer that transitions us from Shabbat to the week, and went back to our dorms. I spent a little time checking my email and stuff, and then met up with some friends. We hung out in an apartment, had some food, and then a bunch of us went out to Ben Yehuda Street, which is a main street for restaurants, pubs, coffee shops, etc. in downtown Jerusalem. We just hung out in a place that caters to Americans, and then went home to sleep.

So far, today, I have not done very much. Though Sunday is a weekday in Israel, I don't have class on Sundays. Later, there is an activity with the Madrichim, who are sort of like RAs, sort of like counselors, and are just people we can go to when we have questions or anything. They're Israeli students at the main Hebrew University who work in the Office of Student Affairs, which plans trips and activities. After that, I will probably be going to hear a guy from Israel public radio or something speak about the situation in Gaza over a barbecue dinner, which will hopefully have veggie burgers. Tomorrow, Ulpan starts for me, so hopefully I'll have a good teacher and fun class.

That's all for now. I hope things are all good with you, and I'll try to be in touch as much as possible.

Lots of love,
Dina

P.S. We apparently do have mailboxes, but no keys yet, nor do I know what the address is or anything, so I'm going to need to get back to you on that.

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Well, I later went to the activity with the Macrichim. It was pretty stupid. Not really worth talking about. But I did hear the guy talk about Gaza. I was surprised at how well he did. I assumed it would just be completely biased, pro-Israel, not even telling us anything from the other side. But he managed to lay out the facts of the events very...factually. He was very good at pointing out when he was stating his opinion instead of fact. Of course, his opinions were all pro-Israel, but I'm fine with him discussing that as long as he lets us know that it is just HIS opinion. And there weren't veggie burgers, but there was pita and humus and salad, so I managed just fine. :)

Anyway, I know I have a LOT to catch up on, but hopefully once I do, I'll be able to keep this updated often enough that you'll get a more or less day-by-day idea of what's going on.

I'm hoping to put my pictures here, and maybe some video blogging as well, but all in good time.