Here Come the Irish

                 I figure while I'm up at 230am waiting for the BCS Championship game to watch the Irish beat Alabama, I should use my time to finally write this blog post.  Gotta say, Notre Dame culture here is the exact opposite from the Notre Dame culture back home.  I mean, being one of the only Christian people or even Irish people in this program made the game a little less hyped, unlike if I were still with Mommy Dearest who went for both Undergrad and Law School.  But Notre Dame Football team, if you're reading this, know there was at least one person in Israel watching the game.

               So January 2nd I was off to O'Hare once again.  Somehow I brought more clothes with me than last time, but hey, you can never have too many clothes.  And my day was already full of surprises.  I had gotten to my gate and heard the stewardess say my name over the intercom.  I went up to the counter and they informed me that I had been bumped to Business Class!  Not only was I served food from a menu, but I didn't feel bad about my stinky feet once.  Then after Frankfurt's airport kicking my butt with long un-needed corridors to walk down, I was again back in Israel!

               Not sure how many of you are aware of this program but, Israel has this thing called "Birthright" or "Taglit" in Hebrew that is a free trip for Jewish people around the world.  You must be 18 to take the trip and trust me when I say this, but if you're not on Taglit and Israelis assume you are it's just an insult.  When I got to Israeli customs, it seems that Taglit programs are in full swing.  So customs was just completely taken over by different colored lanyards.

               When I got back to the dorms, it was a completely different atmosphere.  Half the residents had already left for America, but thankfully not many of them were my friends.  I ran straight up to Nofar, gave her a huge hug, and then ran over to Ericka.  From there, I made the rounds to all the other apartments.  Sadly two close friends were leaving that night and I only had 4 hours with them.  But then from that moment on, more and more people were leaving.  Nofar left tonight, while my new roommate Koral is leaving early in the morning.  

                BUT because people are leaving...I got all their stuff!!  This includes pans, mirrors, guitars, blankets, pillows, food and more.  

                  So Nofar, Koral and I definitely have the most stocked and hopefully the most home-y room of all.  I got a lot of free candles from people, so I've taken a liking to making candles out of bottles we have around the apartment.
                  I'm now just counting the days until I can hope the puddle to Europe and meet my cousin for a little backpacking in the nice and warm February.  But really, it will be a lot of fun because we have never spent too much crazy time together, and what better way when you realize you're the only people that speak fluent English in your small enclosed area.
                  The only truly saddening thing about this return is knowing that the one and only Dayna will not be returning to us in Israel.  Because of how things have panned out with the conflict and credits, I now have a room to myself.  Picture to come (still don't have my clothes out of the center of my room), but I will be turning my room into one big single.  Hopefully I do not have a roommate show up while I am gone because it will not be tailored for two people by the time they arrive.
                  So, it's been a bittersweet week.  I've had to say goodbye to hometown friends again, but then I had to return to Israel to say goodbye to everyone here.  I have roughly two weeks until I leave for Europe and everyone is gone, so I will just be decorating and traveling around Israel.  Off to Jerusalem tomorrow to track down a friend on Taglit without any sleep because of this game.

                  It's now the second quarter, so hopefully the Irish can pull it out of the fire, because I did not pull an all nighter with jet lag for nothing!  Go Irish!  God Country Notre Dame!