Shalom!
Hello all!!! Sorry I haven’t been able to blog in a few days but my internet connection here is really sketchy… I am having a great time!!! I LOVE studying abroad; in some ways I even wish I was staying all next semester too, but I think I would miss everyone at SPC too much! Hebrew University is great though, I feel like I’m getting a totally different perspective on so many things than I would’ve gotten from the US, which obviously is the point of studying abroad in the first place.
We flew in on Tuesday and on Wednesday we started classes. I am in the Rothberg International School “Summer Institute for the Study of the World of the Bible.� I love it!! My first class is on the Books of the (Hebrew) Bible and my prof keeps pointing out the window at the Judean Hills and things that happened there. I can’t believe I’m here in Jerusalem, where I’ve read about my whole life! My other class is on The Bible in Early Judaism and Christianity which is also super interesting. This week we’ve also gotten to do some sightseeing which as been great! The other night we went out to Ben Yehuda Street (the “Times Square� of Jerusalem, as my Jewish friend calls it). Then yesterday me and two of my new friends here went to the Old City. We started at the Jaffa Gate, walked to the Western Wall, prayed, ate FALAFEL (amazing!), then walked through the Muslim Quarter to part of Via Dolorosa and the Pools of Bethesda. This morning a few of us got up and went to a Christian church here. It was quite an adventure trying to help my Arab cab driver navigate to a place he had never been with his limited English and my non-existent Hebrew! All in all I am having an AMAZING time and learning so much!!! Shalom Shabbat everyone!
