It's still surreal.

August 9, 2008
-"Every time I walk to Hebrew class and survey the view overlooking Jerusalem, the golden dome on the Dome of the Rock winks from the distance. Yet, I still feel as though I’m looking through a screen, and the whole experience is just surreal."

Finally made it to the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa today.

















Look at how excited I was-I subconsciously even dressed in the same colors!

















And I still can't stop smiling.


I know I haven't updated in a while..my heart just hasn't been up to it.

"Studying" Abroad

How much studying actually goes on when one is studying abroad?

It's 11:45 pm on a Friday night here in Jerusalem (the equivalent of a Saturday night in the States), and I decided to stay in tonight because a) I'm running low on cash b) it's really cold outside, and the rain might pick up again, and c) I thought I could start on my 30-page paper due in a month.

Needless to say, it's Friday, and I'm in no mood to sit here hunched over my desk researching about Israel's role in the Iran Contra Affair. I spent most of the evening at my friend's apartment for our ritual Shabbat dinner and then commiserated over the amount of work piling up on our desks and how little motivation there is to do any of it.

Now, I'm sitting at my desk with five books on Reagan sprawled open to unseeing eyes, a few tattered pages with scrawled notes, and a pen behind my ear while I opt to update my blog instead.

Studying abroad is generally understood by most college students as "break time", and the classes a joke, if you will.

Back home, I will hardly ever show up to class without reading the assignment, and God forbid I skip class. Here, I'm more lax about the readings; here, the weekends are not stressful extensions of the week; and here, I'll skip class every so often without feeling guilty if something else comes up. Of course this is all to a certain extent since I'm still paying to attend the university.

Studying abroad is so unique because as much as one's home university would hope, the focus is not on what is being learned in the classroom or from the books. It is time for the student to explore a different culture, society, lifestyle that she may not be familiar with or agree with. It's time for the student to have as many encounters with as many new people as possible. It's time for him to share as many experiences and stories while listening to others' perspectives and opinions on shared and personal experiences. It's time for her to travel and discover new likes and dislikes in music, food, etc. and challenge herself in unfamiliar situations. It's time for him to observe and to reflect.

Initially, it's difficult to be so far from home, family and friends. It's frustrating to not be able to communicate with people because you might not know the language. It's hard to integrate yourself into the society and to adopt new cultural norms. And it's unnerving to have your perspective challenged by new experiences and other points of view. (Just look at my earlier posts for goodness sake.)

But ultimately, study abroad is so gratifying because the place you stay becomes home. After just even a month, you can start to read signs as if they were in your native tongue and understand conversations on the bus. You embrace foreign customs like Shabbat dinner and incorporate them into your own traditions. And it's still difficult, but you learn the most when you can explain your point of view while understanding someone else's to deconstruct and then reconstruct a stronger argument.

It's for moments when I find myself sitting around arguing with Israeli and non-Israeli friends about subjects ranging from relationships to the situation in Gaza that I wanted to study abroad. It's the times I wander around the old city of Jerusalem and perch on a bench to people-watch downtown that I'm the happiest and learn the most.

So even though I'm not always cracking open the books like I would at Wellesley, I'm learning priceless knowledge that may be completely worthless or completely invaluable. It is "break time" in that there is less stress and urgency in the academic sense. Yes, some classes are a joke, but this is really dependent upon your professor. Irregardless, during the past few months, I've learned more about Israel, about Palestine, about myself, about people than I ever expected, and this experience studying abroad will have a lasting legacy in my life.

I'm sorry if this post sounds trite-the end of the semester is nearing, and nostalgia for my life in Jerusalem is already beginning. (I can already anticipate having to tell myself to read this post next semester when I'm again in a new location to remind myself that in the end, I won't want to leave.)

It's now 1:18 am. I should probably start that paper.

Photos from this morning's field trip to the Christian sites along the Via Dolorosa in the Old City:
The sheep pools where supposedly Jesus healed people.


















A very well preserved church from the age of the Crusaders.
Old city views and the narrow streets along the Via Dolorosa in the Muslim quarter.

Yes, Tif, here is your update :)

Today is the third day of my two and a half week long vacation after just three days of classes.

Okay, yes, I do have class on Sunday, but instead of sitting through my Guerrilla Warfare and Global Terrorism seminar, I'll be flying the skies toward Istanbul, Turkey.

I'd been mostly bedridden the past two days sick with my third case of strep throat this year, and I was starting to get severe cabin fever.

Another month, another trip to the emergency room. But don't be alarmed. The only reason why it's the emergency room is because the normal hospital hours are impossible to catch especially during high holidays season. The emergency room of Terem hospital in Jerusalem does not evoke in me any horror stories like American emergency rooms. It's actually quite pleasant. And both times I've been there, the emergency room looked hardly like an emergency room as there were barely any people waiting, and the service was quick and effective.

So after three days of extra strength Tylenol, antibiotics, two liters of clementine juice I thought suspiciously looked too tropical to be orange juice, one ramen split over three meals, and two haphazardly delirium-induced peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I feel like myself again.

Yesterday was the end of Yom Kippur, and I walked to the Old City to visit the Kotel. It was really beautiful with everyone wearing white. Some people were fully decked out in white garments down to their toes. I kid you not, I noticed several people wearing white crocs.

I didn't take any photos because I thought the scene would be better appreciated that way.

Then, I walked back towards the Muslim Quarter towards Al-Quds University where I saw another hip-hop performance by G-Town where this time, most of the crowd were young Palestinians.

There was also an art gallery exhibition, in the basement of the building, which I thought was the most interesting art gallery venue I'd been to since the architecture of thousands of years ago eerily housed pieces of modern art.

It's been a quiet week. And I have yet to write those scholarship essays.

I'm adding a few pictures that I didn't think were important enough to go up on my Egypt and Jordan traveling post, but take a look at them:


We perched ourselves on a bridge over the Nile in Cairo one night to witness midnight traffic. It's pretty mind-blowing, huh?


Our extremely uncomfortable toilet in Petra to match our hobbit hole room. There was no physical way to sit on that...the right way.

Could you imagine this in the States?



A special thanks to my friends who called or who listened and as always gave the kind of advice only true friends could give.

Damascus Gate

How appropriate from yesterday's post!

I finally made it to the Arab Quarter in the Old City today.

It's actually incredibly close to the University, and if you'll remember one of my earlier posts, I talked about taking a walk and ending up in an Arab neighborhood. If we had walked maybe 10 minutes further that day instead of turning around, we would have found ourselves right to the entrance of the Damascus Gate to the Old City.

I was only there for two hours today, but it is already my favorite place in Jerusalem.
Nargeelah pipes and Arabic music and sweets and almond drinks galore!!!

Also, since it's Ramadan, there are beautiful colored lights strung everywhere :)

Enjoy these pictures!!