Fabulous Weekend!

I’m going to start this post by telling you that today is the most beautiful day in Jerusalem: sunny, warm, light and breezy (but not hurricane-like winds we’ve had recently), and just plain gorgeous. I went for a run this afternoon to take advantage of the weather and while going through a park with the most incredible view of the Old City I heard the Muslim call to prayer echoing off the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, reminding me what a spectacular place I am in. As if I could forget.

But that’s not the point of this post. The point is to tell you about my awesome weekend!

My uncle picked me up on Thursday afternoon after my classes were done, and while I thought we were going straight to his house we actually went first to the City of David. My uncle’s friend does excavations there so while the two of them went off to check out some newly discovered stuff I was led around the main archaeological park by my own tour guide. While tons of stuff in Jerusalem is really old, the City of David is the REALLY old stuff—dating back to (as the name suggests) the time of Kings Solomon and David (if not before). It’s incredible the kinds of things they’re finding there. For example, the tour guide told me about the relatively recent discovery of several clay seals that depict the names of individuals that match perfectly the story in chapters 37 and 38 of Jeremiah (where he’s thrown into a pit outside the king’s palace because he gives a prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem). Basically anytime they find something like this they turn to the Bible to see if they can make sense of it and the types of stuff they’ve been finding corroborate perfectly the ancient text. It was really incredible and I cannot wait to go back (because we only got to a small portion of everything there is to see!) Also, my uncle gave me this amazing book on the City of David and the story of Jerusalem so I can learn more and fill in the details I didn’t get from this tour.

On Friday I went with my cousin and some of his friends down to the Negev, in the northwest portion, really close to the Gaza strip. There was a huge crater-like geological formation in the middle of the desert that, though it was winter, was filled with wildflowers. Apparently people come from all over to see these “Callaniot” and I can tell why—they were beautiful. We hiked down into the canyon and all around inside it, then climbed up to an old water tower, had a picnic lunch under some trees in a meadow of flowers, and wandered through what I feel like were really varied landscapes for being in the desert. We would go over a ridge and all of a sudden there would be really green cultivated fields, then we’d be amongst a bunch of trees, then on a plane with some ruins of buildings, and then back in the desert again. It was breathtakingly beautiful and a really interesting place. Afterwards we went to a kind of park with natural springs which were also really beautiful. The weather was incredible so I was glad I got to spend the entire day outside—it’s the first time I’ve really gotten to be out in the sun and enjoy good weather for a whole day.

Saturday was another family filled day: a whole bunch of us went up to Caesarea, which is on the coast between Tel Aviv and Haifa, and famous for the remarkably intact Roman ruins. There are also remains from other time periods as well, but the most impressive (at least in my opinion) were the Roman bathhouse complex and amphitheater (which has been rebuilt and now holds concerts in the spring and summer). The weather was gorgeous again, and the place itself absolutely beautiful. There’s something about the combination of the historic remains juxtaposed directly next to the sea that is so picturesque. I don’t think it can be beat. And, it was of course so great to spend time with family, who I unfortunately don’t get to see often at all.

The weekend ended with another trip, this time from Jerusalem with my friends here at school. We (after much confusion and miscommunication about bus schedules and bus companies) went to Abu Ghosh, the hummus capital of the world and site of the restaurant that holds the record for making the world’s largest vat of hummus. After such beautiful weather Friday and Saturday, Sunday was beyond terrible and by the time we got to Abu Ghosh there was zero visibility, brutal wind, and pelting freezing rain, so we ducked into a restaurant, ate our longed-for hummus, and left. It wasn’t the most thrilling of trips, but I will certainly return on a day with better weather and see what the city itself has to offer (there’s supposed to be some pretty churches and historic things there as well).

All in all, and incredible weekend!! Lots more pictures on facebook if you're interested!

Real Classes

My first week of school is complete and in a little bit I’m heading off to spend Shabbat and the weekend with some family. Here’s a breakdown of the classes I’m taking this semester:

Modern Hebrew: I’m continuing with Hebrew classes, but not with the same class I was in for the Ulpan. After our Ulpan final exam my teacher e-mailed me suggesting I bump up to the next level, because she thought it was a more appropriate place for me. The problem was, my class had just finished chapter 7 in the book and the other class was getting ready to start chapter 14! So I had/have a lot of catching up to do to get on the same level as the other class but in the grand scheme of things I think this is much better for me because I was a little bored and frustrated that we were moving kind of slowly in my other class. This new class is a challenge, but certainly one I’m looking forward to working on. I like the teachers very much (there’s two teachers because we meet 8 hours/week) and I know a good number of people in class, so it should be good.

Orthodox Judaism in Modern Times: This class is a seminar so there are only 11 students, which feels very familiar, coming from W&L. The first day was not so great, just because the professor lectured for most of it, dropping names I had never heard and referencing a lot of Jewish History I have never learned. But the second day was much better, and I think the rest of the semester will be the same. We read an excerpt from the Maimonides Mishneh Torah and analyzed it, looking at the importance of knowledge in Orthodox Judaism as well as the debates between emphasis on halakha vs kabbalah (law vs. more philosophical mystic study). Throughout the course we’ll look at how orthodoxy has responded to developments within Judaism such as the Jewish Enlightenment, Hasidic movement, Reform movement, and Zionism as well as modernization in the world in general. I think it sounds really interesting!

Foreign Policy of Israel: This class is very different from anything at W&L, because it’s a lecture of about 60 people (which is not huge at all, but it feels that way). Typically I cannot sit through an hour and a half of one person talking to me with no “audience participation”, but my professor Dr. Meron Medzini has a way of taking complicated and complex events and laying them out so they’re understandable. He’s not the most captivating or exciting speaker, but he has a fascinating history and has first hand experience with a lot of the political events of the past 30 years or so. Yesterday he talked about Israeli history pre-1948 and although he covered a lot of the material I know already it was great to have a refresher that really pulled all the pieces together in a coherent, chronological fashion. So though the professor and format are not incredibly engaging, the subject matter is so fascinating to me that I know I’m going to love it.

Radical Coexistence in Judaism: A New Approach to Conflict Resolution: I saved this mouthful of a class for last because I’m certain it’s going to be my favorite. The premise of the class is that the basic concept and definition of peace and what it takes to create peace that has been dominating international politics during the modern age is fundamentally flawed and dangerous. Throughout the course we are going to reexamine this idea from the perspective of Jewish thought as well as contemporary political philosophy. Basically the first two classes blew my mind and I have no idea if I even agree with or understand what was said but all I know is that it was captivating and fascinating. The professor is unbelievable and though I generally have a hard time with philosophy, I seem to follow most of what he says, and even find myself able to contribute to the discussion. The 90 minutes fly by and I hang on his every word. It’s incredible. AND he has a wonderful Scottish/british accent, made several references to “football” and the TV show The West Wing, and gave me brownie points for having read Said’s Orientalism (thanks, Professor Haskett). So basically I love the man, love the class, and am so excited for the rest of it.

One other sidenote about University life here in general. Until now campus has been very deserted because it was break, and only Ulpan kids plus some other random people were around. Now that classes are in session again though campus is bustling. I was walking through the main building with my friend Brittany the other day and I said something how it’s so strange adjusting to the “real University” that Hebrew U is, since it is so different from school at home. She agreed, and I added “It’s just so big, there are so many people.” And her response was “Oh, I was going to say it’s so small” (She goes to University of Minnesota). So I guess it’s all relative.

Updates on the past few days

Since I last wrote to you all I have graduated the Winter 2011 Ulpan! Hooray! We had our last day of class this past Thursday, during which we had a potluck breakfast party and then took our final exam. During the potluck breakfast, we utilized our last opportunity to get to know each other by playing "Two Truths and a Lie". Now generally I’m pretty terrible at this game because I can never think of anything interesting enough to say about myself, but to throw a twist in this version, we had to say our statements in Hebrew. So with limited vocabulary we shared interesting facts about each other. It was fun to get to have one last hurrah before everyone set off to various parts of the world (many of the students not from America are not actually staying for the semester, they just came for the Ulpan, so they went back home, which is quite sad because I got to be close with a few).

I spent Friday down at the Old City, where Cody (who has become a little “Ir Atika” expert) showed us some cool stuff, including a water cistern that provides water for all of the Christian quarter. We also went up to the roof of the Austrian Hospice (where I got to utilize my German skills reading signs, picture captions, and the menu in their café, whose special of the day was Käsespätzle—YUM, we should have stayed to eat). The Austrian Hospice is not only a beautiful hotel that visitors can stay in right inside the Old City, if they book over a year in advance, but it also has a rooftop that affords one of the most beautiful views of the Old City. We went up to check it out and it really felt like we were on top of the whole place. There’s so much of the city that takes place on rooftops--houses, yards, basketball and soccer courts, even chicken coops—so being above even those and looking down on the whole city from one spot was incredible. It’s from this viewpoint that you can even more clearly see the amazing mix that is Jerusalem. Without pivoting at all you can see the domes of the Church of the Holy Sepluchre, the bell tower of a Lutheran Church, the towers of a mosque, and roofs of synagogues, with Israeli flags flying all around. It really was a remarkable view.

To keep you updated on other things: I started my classes for real! Hooray! I’ll put up a post describing them soon, but I’ll just let you know now that I like them very much and I’m really excited for what the semester has in store for me! I still can’t believe I’m in Israel. It’s already been one month but I have a beautiful four more to go.

I'm pratically a local

Today I was on the bus coming back from the shouk, laden with many bags of deliciously fresh produce, and a woman turned to me from across the bus and asked me (in Hebrew of course) "What time is it?". I looked at my watch, did not panic, and without skipping a beat, eloquently replied (ALSO IN HEBREW) 10 til 4. I even got the gender of the numbers correct. This is a big day for me, folks.

In other news, I graduated from Ulpan on Thursday and real classes start tomorrow so I'll be back with news from that!

Jazz and the White Book

I had a really interesting night last night. Two friends and I decided to check out a venue called Yellow Submarine, which has lots of really cool music, including free Jazz shows on Tuesday nights. We tried to go last week but got the date wrong, so this was our second attempt. Since the place is in kind of a random area we had never been to we took a cab. Normally taking a cab is an ordeal because you have to decide on what a fair price is and then haggle your way down to it. But this time was nothing like that. The man gave us a fair price from the beginning, so we knew he was special. Then we started a conversation with him during which he told us all about his favorite places to go in Jerusalem, his family, and his views on the political situation. Some of his comments were interesting, including how he thinks the US needs to be stronger and exert its influence in the situation, and that even though there’s been turmoil for so long and the conflict is so deep, he’s very hopeful for peace for his children. His English wasn’t great and he had some trouble understanding our questions but all in all it was a really fascinating conversation with an average Israeli guy. We like “Mooti” a lot.

The jazz show itself was so so cool. We got there early so we wandered around the area a little bit (including the smallest ToysRus we’d ever seen, in which we tried on cool hats). The band that played was called Burlesque (questionable) and consisted of an electric guitar, electric bass (5 strings), and drummer. They were amazing. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard such a sick drum solo or seen someone’s fingers move so fast on the guitar. All their songs had really intense names too, like “Pretend” and “Smoke on the What?”. They didn’t sing—just played, which was extra cool because it gave my mind a chance to wander and reflect while I was listening to the music. So it was peaceful while being really fun and cool. Now that we know this place exists we’re defeinitely going back. Including potentially a Beatles cover band on Saturday, for an event aptly titled “Magical Mystery Tour”.

Also, on a completely different note: I’m in a foreign country in an urban area and a large University so obviously my life here is considerably different from the one I lead at W&L, but sometimes something will stick out and make that difference very obvious. One example is the fact that I lock my door each and every time I leave my room. Even if it’s just to go next door. It took a while to get used to, but now it’s second nature, and I even lock it at night (both the apartment and my own room). Last week I got really paranoid because there had been murmerings of thefts happening in the Student Village, even from rooms that had been locked, meaning it was a maintenance staff person with a key that was stealing stuff. I started hiding my computer and other valuables when I left for the day. It was intense. Then, a few days ago there were police in my apartment when I came home, who refused to tell any of us why they were there. Come to find out later that there had been shady dealings going on in the apartment next door and they were using our apartment as a home base to catch the thief. Apparently they did? This is what the rumor mill tells me at least. Anyway, moral of the story is: I miss the Honor System.

Worship in the Holy Land

On Sunday a friend invited me to go to church with a group of students from Rothberg and since I’ve failed at finding something on my own I went along with them. It was called King of Kings Assembly, a protestant evangelical kind of church very similar in feel to Voyagers, Mariners, or something like that (very modern in terms of technology, big screen with lyrics and passage readings, full band for worship, etc). The setting was strange because it was in a place called “the pavilion” which I think is just a theater inside a huge building in downtown Jerusalem. So I walked in, through security (which is in literally every building here) passed convenience stores, cafés, pharmacies, and bars, and went down the stairs to finally find a doorway which led to the theater where the service was held. It was bizarre, but whatever. The worship was incredible, though—we sang a few songs in Hebrew which was such a cool experience and really reminds you that people worship the Lord in hundreds of languages, and what you say in English or Hebrew or French or Swahili is all understood and appreciated by the same God. It has been a long time since I’ve been to a service since I have had classes on Sunday mornings and have been unable to find a good place, so I had been longing for that kind of atmosphere again, and this place absolutely did it for me. It was pretty charismatic but not so much that it’s strange and creepy. My only complaint was the sermon itself. I wasn’t crazy about it, the speaker was kind of all over the place, very long-winded, and I’m not sure I followed or agreed with some of what he said. But apparently he’s not the usual guy and the other one is better. So that’s promising. Anyway, I’ll probably go back unless I find another place—there are a couple I’ve been meaning to check out, but haven’t yet. It definitely is something magical to be in Jerusalem and though I know I’m no physically closer to Christ in any part of the world, being here feels like it.

The Weekend in Tel Aviv

This past weekend I went to Tel Aviv with 5 friends, and experienced an entirely new version of Israel. It’s pretty incredible how starkly Jerusalem and Tel Aviv contrast, and it was really fun to see the “second personality” of the country. We stayed in a neighborhood called Florentine, which apparently used to be a terrible area but is now the hip up-and-coming place to be, where lots of artists, musicians, and other young people live. (a family member told me: “You’ll love it and really fit in, although look out because someone will probably try to give you drugs. DON
’T TAKE THEM”) There was really cool graffiti all over the place but the street our hostel was on was SUPER sketchy. I’m talking broken windows, trash everywhere, run down storefronts, bars on the doorways….not looking like the nicest place. But, our hostel ended up being really great, and the people were very helpful and friendly and awesome, and it actually was on the edge of a great neighborhood with lots of fun bars.

(the street leading up to our hostel, courtesy of Dana)

Anyway, so on Friday we wandered mostly just in Old Jaffa, a region that, like so many other places in Israel, has been significant and seen influential characters throughout a plethora of historical time periods. Jaffa is very pretty: all the buildings are made of the same stone, the streets are paved with the same stone, and there are really quaint accents on all the houses, like flower boxes, shutters, and windows all painted the same color. It was gorgeous; I just wish the weather had been nice (it was misty and windy and nasty all day). There are lots of art galleries in Jaffa so we wandered through a few of those and saw some really beautiful jewelry, paintings, etc. The man who runs our hostel co-owns a really nice Mediterranean restaurant in the heart of Jaffa and offered us 2 for 1 drinks and free appetizers if we went. So we said absolutely. Although it was mostly sea food on the menu, I really enjoyed the place. I had pork (in Israel, on Shabbat, good thing I’m not really Jewish) and it was incredibly delicious. And some kind of drink called a Jaffa Breeze, which was also amazingly delicious. As you have noticed I do a lot of talking about food on this blog because it is all. so. good.

Anyway, the restaurant was quite the experience in and of itself because there was a table of very stereotypically Greek folk next to us who were clearly on their very high numbered round of drinks, and kept yelling “Opah!” and getting up from the table to dance with each other. At one point two people stood up and started making out in the corner of the restaurant. They went at it for a good 15 minutes while the rest of the table was packing up and leaving. It was hysterical.

So after dinner we hung out at the hostel for a bit (where we met Pepe from Madrid who thinks all people in Arizona are conservative and talked about his friend dying of a heroine overdose while in Vietnam during Semester at Sea, among other uncalled for topics). We then hopped around the bar scene in Florentine a little, where we may or may not have accidentally wandered into a Lesbian bar. The night was full of surprises. Anyway, around 1 AM we decided to attempt to find a club, because “when in Tel Aviv”, but at this point it was pouring so we were all drenched. After shopping around a bit we ended up in one that had decent music and was playing an episode of Power Rangers on the big screen TV on the side of the room. I don’t want to know why. But that indicates a keeper. Perhaps the highlight of the music was Spice Up Your Life followed by a techno remix of Cotton Eyed Joe. That was quality. Anyway, after allowing all of the inhabitants of Sublime (the club) to witness my sweet dance moves we headed back to the hostel. Before going though, we asked the guy at the door to take our picture. He was very obliging and struck up a conversation with us. Turns out he was the owner of the club and tried to convince us to come in, even though we had just left. I think he was confused. Anyway, he told us his name was Amir and for some reason I felt it necessary to tell him (in Hebrew) that I have an uncle named Amir. This triggered a good 5-7 minute conversation between the two of us, completely in Hebrew during which I feel I fared myself quite well. I walked away feeling proud and accomplished and delighted that I had made friends with such a nice man. Maybe we’ll go back to his club next time we’re in Tel Aviv (actually, probably not. They didn’t give me the glow stick bracelet I wanted).

The next day, after trying to be creative with the space heaters and fans provided by the hostel to dry our wet clothes, we headed out to explore the Tel Aviv side of Tel Aviv (as opposed to the Jaffa side the day before).We had been told about a place called Benedicts for breakfast which despite waiting an hour was unbelievable. The upside of the long wait was that it gave the weather time to clear up so by the time we went out there was actually a blue sky! It was wonderful. We went down to the beach and spent the next several hours strolling in the sand, on the rocks, feeling the water, taking pictures, people watching, etc. It was relaxing and heavenly and I can’t wait to come back when it’s warm enough to swim. I miss the beach so much. Another highlight of Tel Aviv was the Messiah. Yes, you read that correctly. We met a man on a street corner who legit thinks he's the Messiah. Apparently he's famous in Israel, and known to be on that street corner. He had me convinced.....not so much. I don't think the Messiah drinks Shoko.

So that was my weekend in Tel Aviv. It was fairly uneventful in terms of the things we did but it was filled with interesting people, gallons of rain, delicious food, and all around good times.

This week is the last of Ulpan and then real classes start on Sunday! It’s crazy to think it’s been almost a month already. Thanks for reading this super long post!! להתראות for now!!

Really Old Stuff!

I’ve decided that my friends and I simply cannot go on an outing and have it be a normal outing. It always has to turn into an adventure of sorts, no matter how simple and innocent a beginning. Today’s trip to the Israel museum was no exception. Without going into the details of group dynamics and the apparently inevitable questionability of the bus routes/bus stops, (because I ramble too much on this thing) I’ll just say that the museum itself was incredible. I remember going there last time we were in Israel just because I remember seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls, but since at that time I was not yet a Religion major, I had no idea the magnitude or significance of what I was seeing. Just as some background, the Dead Sea scrolls are ancient manuscripts that were discovered in the 1940s-50s in some caves near Qumran, which is north of the Dead Sea. The manuscripts are some of the oldest surviving biblical scripts, and contain both canonical and apocryphal material, as well as “sectarian” documents (rules, procedures, administrative stuff, etc). These finds taken together provide religious scholars and historians with a multitude of information about the development of religious texts, but also about the religion, culture, government, and general way of life during the time they were written (which is estimated between 150 BCE and 70 CE). So, clearly, seeing these things was pretty darn cool. Although the scrolls are not actually displayed in full in the museum (the free audio guide told me that this is because it is the duty of the Israel museum in part to display the scrolls but also to preserve them, and it would not be conducive to the survival of the scrolls to display them all the time—this fact greatly angered my friend Cody and I felt very sad for his disappointment), they do have pieces of each scroll displayed for the general public to look at and read for themselves. No pictures were allowed in the whole museum, so I can’t show you—you have to go look for yourself! There were excerpts from the Isaiah Scroll (arguably the most famous), the Temple Scrolls (which dictated temple and worship policy), the Thanksgiving Scroll (lots of prayers), and a few others. I loved it. And the building it is in has some pretty incredible symbolic architecture. You can read all about it if you’re interested (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_the_book).

Here are some quotes from the scrolls that I found particularly cool:

“This is the day appointed by Him for the defeat and overthrow of the Prince of the Kingdom of Wickedness.” –from the War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness, a really neat apocalyptic prophecy.

“They shall not profane the city where I abide, for I, the Lord abide amongst the children of Israel forever and ever.” –Temple Scroll XLV Columns 13-14

Other neat stuff in the museum include lots of artifacts from the history of Israel, starting with ancient man, going through the Cannanites, biblical Israel/the divided Kingdom, Greek and Roman Periods, interactions with Muslims and Crusaders, and finally the Byzantine period. I saw the Allepo Codex, a Tanach (Hebrew bible) written in the 10^th century, widely considered the most authoritative document in Judaism.

The museum also has some pretty fantastic modern art as well as some pretty terrible and disturbing modern art (as to be expected). Our last stop of the day was a perfectly to scale model of the old city during the second temple period which was pretty awesome. Although it was dark by the time we got to it I still really enjoyed it and now, more than ever, want to go to Mini Israel (where the entire country is miniaturized….like Legoland…)

I just got back from an awesome weekend in Tel Aviv, so I’ll have pictures and stories from that soon!!!

'Murica

As of Sunday I had no plans for this coming week so I was delighted when a facebook message thread started amongst some of my friends talking about the various events people had planned on attending or places people wanted to go, inviting others to join. One of these events was an Open House at the American Center in Jerusalem, put on by the American Embassy in Israel. Although the embassy itself is in Tel Aviv, there is a cultural center in Jerusalem that puts on events and provides all sorts of services to Americans living in the area. This event was broadcast as an evening of culture, including slam poetry, comedy, music, and more. We decided to check it out and despite getting off at the wrong bus stop, walking down incorrect streets a few times, and getting rained on, we found the place (it was right by Abraham Lincoln Road, which we felt like was a good omen). We should have taken a hint of what was to come when we entered the building (past more intense security than I’ve seen lately) and found ourselves amongst a sea of 55+ year-old individuals, milling about drinking hot chocolate and eating popcorn. As wet 20 year olds in jeans and sneakers we looked a little out of place. Nonetheless, we helped ourselves to snacks and sat down by the stage (some sat in chairs, but Dana and I chose the much more inviting option: giant pillows on the carpet). The atmosphere made me feel really cultured and classy, aside from the Barack Obama cardboard cutout that was strategically placed so I felt like it was watching both me and the stage at the same time.

The first act was a conservative Jewish slam poet. I’ll just let that image sink in for a few seconds. Now, I like slam poetry a lot. I think it’s very cool and can be really powerful. This guy was not. He had some really good phrases and word plays and good messages in general, but he was not an excellent performer, got very unnecessarily sexual (especially for the location and audience), and really just made me feel more uncomfortable than anything else. But, the evening was only going to get more bizarre.

Up next was the comedy section, with David Kilimnick as an “emcee” of sorts. Now, he is supposed to be the king of “Anglo-Comedy” in Israel, but I’m fairly certain there was more laughter out of shock than humor during his spiels. His material ranged from Israeli politics to terrorists to Orthodox Jewish women to Americans who don’t get Israeli pop culture (aka us). My personal favorite was when he made a crack about he and his father going to see Passion of the Christ as Jew Father Son bonding and laughing at it. That was cute. Or better yet, his frustration with EL-AL and subsequent desire to go to “suicide school” and fly with Al Qaeda Airlines, “We’ll Almost Get You There”. That was followed with a “too soon?”. Yes, Mr. Kilimnick. Too soon.

But I have to say, he was funnier than the man he introduced, a man affectionately nicknamed “Doctor Jazz”. When I heard “Doctor Jazz” was going to come do stand up for us, I pictured a guy in a snazzy suit, sunglasses, and beret doing alternative comedy with a really smooth voice and lots of lateral swinging motions. I did not, however, imagine a very very very large gray-bearded man in a sweater, jeans, socks, and sandals, telling terrible jokes that I did not even realize were jokes until he paused for laughter. The poor man eventually resorted to making fun of himself with jokes about him “occupying more territory” than most people. He did have a few funny lines and during those I guffawed extra hard just to give him the support he so clearly desired. It was very sad, really. After Doctor Jazz an Israeli comedian took the stage and as he was going to be doing his routine in Hebrew and we weren’t sure how much more we could take, we bailed and went to Ben Yehuda street to get dinner.

So while the evening was not the cultural experience I was looking for, it was certainly an experience, and one that I’m thrilled I partook in. The American Center is a very cool place, we did some America Trivia and won lots of chocolate for it, discovered a new part of Jerusalem, and got a ton of laughs amongst ourselves in our discussion of the beyond ridiculous event we attended. Moral of the story: If you see an event such as this, GO, but don’t expect much.

In other news, I took advantage of a free day last Shabbat to go for a run around the outer walls of campus to explore and discovered some really cool look out sites. I went back later with my friend Brittany and took some pictures. Here is a sampling!