Dear fellow geobloggers, family, friends, and the internet in general,

There is so much to say! Israel is such an interesting and beautiful place, but you honestly cannot fully appreciate it until you’ve come to visit yourself! I want to start this entry with a list of cool, mostly humorous “differences” between Israel and the USA that I wasn’t aware of before I arrived. I think it can be helpful for others who have never before visited Israel.

Just a heads up, I doodled all of this myself so it looks pretty terrible. I did have a lot of fun making it, though, so I hope you enjoy it! If it looks too tiny, click on the picture for the full version.

I guess I should give a little background information about my program before moving on: Tel Aviv University has a neat program for their international students. There is a group of madrichim (youth counselors in Hebrew), that are always a phone call away. All the students have a favorite madrich or madricha, but all of the madrichim are very attentive and extremely helpful! They make you feel right at home, and it’s great to know that you have someone to turn to, even in the oddest hours of the night. They are also the very first people, native to Israel, with actual Hebrew names and neat Hebrew accents, that we personally meet. For some reason, that kind of leaves an impression you can’t forget. 😛

You can meet them here —> Madrichim TAU

Most of the students in the program are housed in the Einstein dormitories. [Not this Einstein]

There are about 6 floors, each apartment for four people with a shared kitchen and bathroom, and two separate rooms with two roommates in each. The style is very “Ikea-ish”, very nice!

Here are a couple of photos of the one I share with my roommates:

View from my room to the kitchen

Trying to make the place a little more homey.

There is also an optional “buddy system” that you can sign up for. In this program, international and Israeli students are paired up, and both students get to make a friend, learn more about each others’ cultures, and explore the university and Tel Aviv together. I just got my buddy today!

The last thing to know about my program is what all of us are studying: Since the middle of January, we have been studying Hebrew through an Ulpan course – an intensive course that lasts about a month. We have classes Sunday-Thursday, and Thursday is our exam day.

Yes, the work week in Israel starts on Sunday and ends (usually) on Thursday or Friday morning, leaving enough time to prepare for Shabbat! More on this later, though! 😀

For now, I leave you with a beautiful picture of the sunrise in Tel Aviv. This was taken from a platform on the train station nearby.

Location: Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Israel