Settling in!

Tomorrow will be my first day of UlPan, which is the Hebrew Intensive course I will take for 7 weeks, so I thought this would be a good time to write my next blog post!

The second day being here was our whole orientation day, which was probably nothing like an American college's orientation day, but then again I wouldn't know.  We took a campus tour, the actual "orientation", Hebrew placement exam, pick up items, icebreaker game, and then rules and regulations for the people living in the dorms.  

The campus is beautiful.  Palm trees, green grass and nice walkways...but the buildings lack sufficient air conditioning for this complaining gal.  I'm sure it is just because we were traveling in big groups, but don't think little tissues and fans won't come with me to class everyday!  All I had to put on my hebrew exam was that I literally don't know any usable Hebrew.  I only know certain phrases that really won't get me far.  But that meant I was an early bird for the very long lines to pick up our phones, ID's, medical cards and more.  IceBreaker was very Peer Groupy and the rules were standard.  But it was nice to do something with my day.

Friday I finally learned how to take the bus to May's house.  I was going to spend the night with her and meet all of her friends that she told me so much about.  The bus line was really simple, there is a stop right outside my dorm exit and her bus stop is central Tel Aviv, something I really needed to know.  She works at a great pizza place, so I got really cheap pizza and met her friends. 

Saturday, I learned that even if I put on sunblock, the Middle East hates my skin.  We went to the beach with some of her friends we didn't meet the day before.  I am burnt up and down my face and chest, but at least my hair looks blonder!  This all happened at the beach, which is just amazing to live by.  The water is warm and very relaxing.  But the biggest thing I had trouble with was my mental navigation.  At home I am so used to the Lake/Beach being to the East, but here the Sea is to the West.  Spent a good 10 minutes explaining and complaining about it to May.

Saturday night, Dayna and I were just up talking and I was trying to create this before just passing out from exhaustion. 

These are the walls above my bed.  I put about 190 pictures up on them just because our room is kind of bland, and two I really will miss a lot of you guys, and nothing is better than a bunch of pictures to look at.

Sunday, Dayna and I woke up super later because we went to bed super late.  But once we were up, we went and bought groceries that was more than cereal, and cleaning supplies.  We swiftered this apartment like there was no tomorrow and finally got everything in order.

But here's a quick tour of my "flat" as they call it. 

That's the kitchen with table and the door to our bathroom.  This kitchen area is smaller than I pictured, but is good for us.

And this is kind of an arial view of our room.  You can't see it but Dayna's bed is closer to the TV and my desk is hiding behind my closet door.  These rooms are actually really roomy for what a "college" kid would expect.

Here are some interesting things I've learned these past few "free" days.  Buses and trains don't run from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, so getting places will be difficult, but I'll get used to it.
Along with that, weekends are Thursday night - Saturday.  I have school Sunday-Thursday.

There just isn't ham.  I knew that it was custom that they don't eat ham, but it is just because I literally couldn't find any.  I was hoping to buy some ham for some quick sandwiches to make, or bacon for my breakfasts, but nothing. None in the store. 

Alright, class tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Lila Tov! 

The First Day

Well, I've officially survived the first day of being in Israel.

My day started at home waking my sister up, watching funny videos and eating Wan-yay's amazing french toast one last time.  Then a good ole cuddle sesh with Mommy Dearest.  Finally spending a good 30 minutes with my favorite neighbor ladies before walking back to the house.  Though I gotta say, what really broke my heart was that my Nana was planning to drive up and say bye, but her power was still out from the night before and couldn't get her car out of the garage :(

But I had to eventually hug sister goodbye with a few tears in my eyes, took some puffy eye-d photos in front of my house, and drove to the airport with Wan-yay and Mommy Dearest.  Like it should be, it was hard saying bye to Wan-yay.  He's the funny one at home even when he doesn't try to be.

Mommy Dearest and I went into the airport and I drank my last Starbucks because Israel doesn't have it...weird right?!  Had some good talks, very normal, just how I like it.  Then she handed me her favorite rosary to have and use while in Israel.  Not gonna lie, didn't know how much I was going to use it, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

We got to JFK just fine, but we were honestly rushing and cutting lines to get me to the flight in time.  Turns out we underestimated just how much security there was.  But because of that, I had to say an unexpected quick good-bye to Mommy Dearest.  Tears, yes.  She never fails to get me choked up.

But eventually I boarded the plane.  Then the major turbulence hit.  Seriously super scary.  Kids screaming,  people breathing fast, and well, I pulled out that rosary and started praying...never mind the fact I was probably the only Christian on the plane haha.  But all was ok and we landed fine.

Walking out of the baggage claim, I was surprised by my all time favorite girl...May!  For those of you who do not know...she is my best friend who is an israeli and lives in Tel Aviv!  Probably the best and only thing I wanted to see walking out of that terminal.

After seeing her, the group hopped on a bus and headed to the dorms!  If you would like my address for much appreciated letters, inbox me!  My roommate is named Dayna and she is fab!  She's super easy to live with and we totally agree about everything.

Later May came back over to help unpack, but even better, help us get our flat in line.  Our dorms have two roomy bedrooms, bathroom and small kitchen with table.  We have 3 out of the 4 of us here, and we're not sure if the 4th will get here.  The room is messy beyond belief and has no real kitchen utensils or anything for that matter.  So lucky for Dayna and me, May took us to the mall and told us all the cheap things to get and buy.  Plus May is the kindest person for letting me borrow a pillow and more.  We ate a good dinner at May's house knowing we weren't going to have a real one back in our flat.

Now after taking one real cold, but soooo needed and refreshing, shower...I'm ready for bed.  We take a tour and have orientation tomorrow!  I'll admit, I still have the homesick/throwup feeling in my stomach, but I'm sure with time it'll go away.

Love and miss you all!

Packing for an 11 month trip...

I know this is another post before actually leaving, but I thought it would interesting to document my packing process.  For the last two weeks, i've been telling myself to start packing and get down to business, but I didn't really do anything until maybe a day ago, about two days before I leave. But...I took pictures to show you what it looks like.

First, I started separating almost all of the clothes I owned.  In this picture, to the right you see a pile of clothes I planned to take with me.  The middle pile closest to the bottom of the picture is the pile of clothes I am leaving here.  The left pile is actually clothes I had just washed and hadn't sorted.  My chair has clothes I just bought from Salvation Army.  And the last pile is actually a pile of just hoodies.  I learned I owned over 15 hoodies/college hoodies.

After a lot of decision making, I finally had my two piles done.  The one on the right is what I am NOT taking to Israel.  On the left, is the pile of clothes I am taking with me.  I also had some clothes in the closet I had kept hung up, and some clothes in the basement drying.  But now, my room looked like less of a mess.

Here, I'm super happy because my room actually looked manageable.  After I narrowed down all my clothes, I had to find an adequate way to get about actually packing them.  So, I folded every piece of clothing in the NO pile and put them in my drawers or gave them to my sisters or a charity pile.  Now what you see behind me is all the clothes I am taking, folded and separated into other piles by category of clothing.

This is my final picture, because after this, you would just see a happy child with two nicely packed suitcases.  Because I only get two suitcases with a 50lb limit, I had to split all my clothes into two piles with relative even weight.  That is almost just as exhausting as the initial separations because if I add too much weight to one suitcase then I have to pay an extra fee for the suitcases.

Hopefully I get this right because if I don't, it is a hefty fee at the airport.  Plus tomorrow, I need to go shopping for some last minute essentials.  But the biggest thing i've noticed while packing is I don't feel like I'm actually leaving for this long because of the restrictions of my luggage.  Most college kids have a pretty empty room when they leave for school because they can bring all of their stuff.  I am basically only bringing clothes.  That leaves my room looking the same but cleaner.  I know it'll hit me when i'm there, but right now I just feel like I'm leaving for a vacation.  Oh well, I'll figure it out at some point.

Ok, it's 3 am and I still only have, maybe, one suitcase packed.  Lila Tov!

12 Days and Counting

                  As most of you know, I'm leaving for Israel in 12 days.  The catch is that I stay for 11 months.  Instead of going straight to college after high school, I decided that I wanted to take a gap year like many Europeans.  But unlike many gap year participants, I was unable to find the right program for me in Israel, so really, I will be going to school at Tel Aviv University for the year.

                  Now, I figured making this blog would be a good way to keep my family and friends relatively updated even though I will have email and all that jazz.  This won't be like a professional blog with a clear theme, but rather a journal or diary.  So, this first post will just be about how much I have done and how much is still needed to be done before I leave!

Israel To-Do List

1.  Buy plane ticket                                        Check

2.  Buy suitcases                                             Check                                

3.  Pack      

4.  Buy laptop

5.  Get a financial plan                                   Check

6.  Set up a phone plan

7.  Have my going away party

8.  Spend valuable time with valuable people

9.  Write letters

10. Get better "euro" clothes

11. Get there

                   Well and as you might see, I'm a little behind.  My suitcases just came in today, so I guess I can officially start packing.  Plus, my going away party is this Saturday, so really time is that constraint.  But really, I'm super behind.  After this Saturday, I will not leave the house unless it is for work, so those of you who wish to see me, please come visit!

                    I'm super pumped to go, and hopefully I don't get lazy with this blog!