Author Archives: kof5093

Getting acclimated (with the help of stick figures)

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.

cartoons.jpg

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. 512px-Albert_Einstein_Head.jpg [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:

100_2286.JPG View from my room to the kitchen

100_2277.JPG 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.

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Location: Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Israel

Shalom!

Safe and sound in Tel Aviv at last! I got off the plane only this morning. I honestly didn’t sleep much during the trip, so right now, I’m pretty exhausted!

I did not get to write a pre-departure entry, so here I am to talk about my expectations (before the flight) and some of what I’ve experienced so far! My trip was booked on El Al Airlines with a huge group of about 100 students from schools all over. From what I understand, El Al is the world’s best airline. They use very different security tactics for their passengers. I was asked a lot of “different” questions by El Al. They were about my reasons for studying abroad in Israel, my current living situation at home, etc. They repeated a lot, I guess to make sure my story was straight. However, my flight experience didn’t stop at their first checkpoint, no siree! I was given the full, entire flight experience. No stone left unturned! For whatever reason (I was later told it was done randomly), I had to go through an even more thorough security check. (I read about this online a few weeks before – apparently, a passenger’s luggage is tagged from 1-5, by order of… suspicious-ness, I guess O_O.) I was given a whopping number 5. So absolutely *everything *in my two bags was checked, and I was taken to a room to be scanned myself. When they finished, I was personally escorted to an available seat in the waiting area, and come boarding time, almost to the plane itself. It was awkward because no one else had a cool “body guard” like me (haha), but he was very nice and answered a lot of the questions I had about the plane and about Israel. He even offered his discount when I bought myself a juice! I think it all turned out for the best in the end.

It’s a little hard to explain how I feel right now (besides sleepy). The day before the flight, I felt my first sudden pang of homesickness… but it passed, and now I feel really good here! Since the moment I stepped into the plane, and even more so when we landed at the Ben Gurion airport, I felt like I’ve been doing this all my life. I honestly feel so comfortable here, like I went back ho me instead of just left it. So, it seems Israel and I are off to a great start!

I’m feeling really tired now, so I leave you with some pretty pictures of the BEAUTIFUL weather we had today in Tel Aviv!

100_2234.JPG P.S. In the next few days, I’ll write all about ULPAN, my dorm, the university, and everything. Stay tuned! 😛


Location: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel