Exploring Jerusalem

Shalom, readers! Today was my first full day in Israel – wow! And it’s not even over yet :) I woke up at 9:00 this morning, listened to some music, futzed around with my iPod, and eventually got up and get ready. I took the bus to downtown Jerusalem so I could buy a power converter (so glad my laptop is alive again!) and meet up with some friends. After getting seriously lost (a.k.a. thorough exploration?) we walked around for a while, then took a taxi back to campus in time for a campus walking tour.

Here, I have decided, is the problem with campus tours: you will never take that route to get to any of the places on the tour, so it really doesn’t help you to know how to get to anything. But Ido, our tour guide and one of the madrichim, showed us some beautiful and interesting spots. I got my first look at the Old City from the campus’ amphitheatre, and Ido gave us some tips on how to meet and get to know Israeli students on campus. After that we had an orientation, which basically taught us about health insurance, warned us against a lot of unsafe/insecure places, and reminded us of some basic security tips. I won’t bore you with the details.

After this, I suddenly realized I hadn’t eaten all day. Oops. So I walked with some friends to Burgers Bar, the chain burger place in the same plaza as the pizza place I went to yesterday. Sadly, as they are certified kosher, no cheeseburgers :( But I did have a delicious burger with barbeque sauce as well as some very interesting French fries – they were potato slices!

Now I have returned to my dorm to write this. Soon I’ll venture out into the courtyard, where it’s rumored there is wi-fi, and then Alison, Kate, and I plan to have a pajama party and watch a movie. Stay tuned...this may be my last post for a while, as this weekend I am going on a Shabbaton trip to Tel Hai where I will hike, swim, enjoy a Shabbat dinner, and hopefully have an enjoyable last weekend before ulpan classes begin!

Shalom, Israel!

So to pick up where I left off, we deplaned, then headed over to customs. I waited in line with the guy who had been beside Alison and me on the plane, Zev. We chatted for a while and discovered a common love of the Red Sox and theatre! Then we got a luggage cart and collected our baggage. Mine was waiting for me on the carousel, but Zev had to wait quite a while. Then we headed out of the security zone and tried to find where we were supposed to go.

This proved challenging.

We ran into another girl from our program, Cara (also one of my roommates!). Together we wandered until one of the madrichim (basically the RAs for international students) showed up with a sign that said HEBREW UNIVERSITY. We waited around near him until we’d gathered up most everyone, then headed out to a charter bus and drove to Jerusalem.

Upon arrival we were given bags that included our room keys, student ID cards, and health cards. I also picked up my cell phone for the next four months! I went to my dorm, dropped off my luggage, and headed to campus to pick up my health card, which was missing from my bag. (They told me to come back tomorrow. Helpful.)

We took a shuttle over to campus and walked back; it’s a nice ten minute walk! Then Alison, Sean, Malcolm, Steph, Esther, Robert, Rachel, and I decided to go get some lunch. We found a pizza place just outside the north gate of the student village, and even in Jerusalem, I managed to get my favourite – black olive and pineapple ☺ Then we stopped by the market there to buy some basics: toilet paper, soap, paper towels, etc.

After this, Esther and I went back with Alison to her room to make lists of what to buy on the shopping trip that evening, listen to music, and watch Alison unpack. Then we headed down to the bus and went to the local mall.

I walked away with a comforter, fitted sheet, pillow, pillowcase, cup, plate, bowl, mug, towels, and trash can – all green. Not because I particularly like green, I just think it will make it easier for me to keep track! I also bought utensils for my apartment and a Happy Meal for dinner. Then we returned to campus at which point I unpacked, made my bed, and watched a movie with the last of my laptop battery. Finally I fell asleep around 10:00PM and didn’t wake up for eleven hours! What bliss :)

Flightmares

Sorry for the delay in posts, dear readers! I had a great deal of laptop excitement what with forgetting to bring a power converter, being unable to find them at the mall, and finally traveling downtown in order to find one (and almost being SERIOUSLY ripped off!). Apologies as well for the triple post now, I had written three before I finally found internet!

Now, on to the reason you’re actually reading this thing. A couple months ago, I booked travel on a charter flight that Hebrew University was sponsoring. It departs from Newark at 1:30pm on Monday, August 29^th. As a resident of San Jose, this, of course, left the puzzle of how to get to Newark in time. We found the perfect JetBlue flight: a red-eye to Boston on Sunday night that arrived at 5:30am and then a puddle-jumper to Newark that arrived at 7:45am – plenty of time, especially given that they told us to arrive by 10:00am.

But then came a hurricane. I received an e-mail a few days before my scheduled departure from the admissions reps at Hebrew University advising us to try to arrive in New York before Saturday. Too soon!!! I hadn’t even begun packing, I had so much left to buy...yikes. My father and I looked at alternative flights, and found one that would arrive on Sunday morning instead. We decided to check the weather and call the travel agency that arranged the charter in the morning to decide.

I spoke with Moni from Interglobal Travel, and he assured me that my flight would be fine, don’t change it! Hooray, twenty-four more hours at home :)

Friday afternoon, Ian and I went to the gym, and then that evening was my going-away dinner at my favourite Italian restaurant, Pasta? in Mountain View. I had to shower, so when Ian and I got home, I dashed upstairs and then ran downstairs to get dressed. (This in and of itself was a challenge, as I was avoiding wearing anything that I was bringing to Israel – nothing is less fun than arriving in a new place with a suitcase full of dirty clothing!) Then my phone bleeped. “Oh yeah, you got a call while you were upstairs,” Ian told me. I went over and listened to the voicemail.

Cue panic...an automated message from JetBlue informing me my flights had been cancelled. I dashed to my computer and looked for the alternative flight my father and I had found. Also cancelled. As was every flight from San Jose or San Francisco to Newark, JFK, or LaGuardia. More panic. Just then, my father came home. I babbled the situation to him in a frenzy.

“Is the travel agency still open?” he inquired.

“Probably not!!!” said stressed-out-Grace.

“Try anyway,” Dad suggested.

So I did, and I managed to reach Annette, one of the agents in charge of the charter flight. She managed to rebook me (for an exorbitant fee) to Chicago Midway on Sunday morning, a hotel for Sunday night, and the first flight to Newark on Monday morning. What a lifesaver! Problem solved.

We had my lovely farewell dinner (I made sure to get my fix of some non-kosher food items!) and then I began packing when we returned home. The next day after famous Hudkins pancakes and delicious bacon (tough to come by in Jerusalem), Ian accompanied me on a shopping trip to buy some last-minute necessities. We stopped for lunch at Five Guys, a burger place, so that I could get a cheeseburger – also non-kosher! While we were eating, I received another call from Annette. She told me that they were arranging another group flight for people who were unable to make the first one because of the weather, and did I want to just wait and fly out on that one?

I hate making big decisions.

I called my dad, who said it was my call. As I was beginning to cry into my cheeseburger, my sister called! She talked me through everything, and we agreed that it was worth risking three days in New York (which, hello, is not a BAD thing) when it might give me the chance to arrive early and have plenty of time to settle in. I called Annette back and told her my decision (she told me on Monday she was glad I had chosen well!) and then finished my shopping and packing.

On Saturday night, I began to panic again. I hadn’t prepared myself for this at all! I had spent my three months at home ignoring the fact that I was going to Israel. But fortunately, parents are fonts of wisdom: “That’s one way to look at it,” my father told me, “but I think you’ve just been enjoying the moment that you’re in, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” What a smart guy!

Sunday morning I was driven to the airport (by way of Starbucks, which is sadly a non-entity in Israel!) by my parents, Ian, and my puppy, Holly. I said a remarkably dry goodbye to all of them, then went inside to board my flight to Chicago. Discovered at the airline counter that my luggage was eight pounds overweight (drat!) so I pulled out the duffel I had packed in the large suitcase, threw a few things in, and went to the gate.

In Chicago, serendipity came into play: I ran into my high school friend, Whitney! She had been on the same flight as me, but we didn’t run into each other until we arrived in Chicago. We killed time before her next flight and my trip to the hotel by grabbing a slice of pizza and catching up for a while. What fun :) After I said goodbye, I claimed my luggage, hopped the shuttle to the hotel, went to my room, reconfigured my packing, and got a few hours of sleep.

I awoke at 3:30am, dressed, grabbed my things, and took a shuttle back to the airport, where I met up with Elly and Kate, who had been in the same flight situation as I had. (Fun fact – Kate is now one of my roommates!) We got our boarding passes, checked our luggage, passed security, and got on the plane. After a short flight, we arrived in Newark and made our way to the international terminal.

Cue 3 hours of standing around waiting. Lots of time waiting for everyone to arrive because El Al wanted us to all check in together, then waiting in line to answer security questions and waiting in line to check our bags and get our boarding passes. My feet were killing me by the end! But I waited in line with Alison, who I was also seated next to on the plane, and we became fast friends.

When I finally reached the gate, I grabbed a sandwich and sat to wait for the flight. It wound up departing 2.5 hours late, and we boarded a full hour late. Then on the 10.5 hour flight, Alison and I watched movies, sang along to Disney songs, and practically died of dehydration. I also slept for six hours.

At last, around 8:30am Israeli time, we landed in Tel Aviv! More on that later :) Thanks for reading!

Adventures abound!...and I'm not even there yet :P

Hello again, readers! I’m glad you’re still with me. This entry is written from my hotel room in Chicago – more on that adventure in the next entry. It makes more sense for me to go chronologically :)

My first adventure began a few weeks ago. My sister was in town for the first time since she was in college, and we were planning to take our first family vacation in years – a weekend of wine tasting in Napa. The evening before my family was planning to depart, my mother mentioned that there was a message on the answering machine “from Israel.” “The whole country’s calling me!” I joked on my way to the machine to play back the recording. But my laughter was short-lived; the message was from the Israeli consulate informing me that they were missing important paperwork from my visa application. Cue minor melt-down. We sorted everything out, planned when and how I could get all the paperwork together, and I planned a trip to San Francisco to visit the consulate and have a lovely day with my boyfriend, Ian, for the following week.

I purchased new passport photos (apparently the ones my roommate took for my application to the program didn’t cut it – sorry Steph!), printed my flight confirmation, and paid my tuition. Then Ian and I drove to San Francisco. There was no street parking outside the consulate, so we Chinese-fire-drilled. I hopped out to search for the consulate, and Ian proceeded to spend the next 75 minutes or so driving around in circles (sorry babe!).

After spending about ten minutes wandering around looking for 456 Montgomery Avenue, I finally found it. I entered the building and ran into a security desk.

“Hi...I’m looking for the Israeli consulate, am I in the right place?” I asked.

“Sign in.” barked the guard, and he made a call upstairs. He muttered inaudibly for a few seconds, then said, “Wait here.”

Um, okay.

There were no chairs, not the most comfortable place to wait, but oh well. As I waited, the guard sent several people by to the Swiss consulate, and I began to feel like this might be a little more intense. The phone rang, and the guard muttered inaudibly into the receiver again. Then he handed it to me and said, “They want to talk to you.”

Again, um, okay.

“Hello?” I said tentatively.

“What is your business?” replied a voice.

“Um, I received a call a few days ago saying that I needed to submit some further paperwork for my A-2 student visa?” I uptalk when I’m nervous. So sue me.

“Let me talk to the guard,” the voice said.

Once again...um, okay.

The guard muttered inaudibly into the receiver some more, then finally told me I could go upstairs. I rode the elevator to the 21^st floor and found a door that said “Israeli consulate.” I tried to open it, but it was locked. I looked around and saw some chairs. Well, at least it was a more comfortable place to wait? Eventually I heard the buzz of magnetic locks, and an Israeli gentleman opened the door and ushered me in. He asked if I was carrying any weapons or if I had brought anything that someone else had asked me to bring. Then I went through what was basically airport security. Gosh.

“Okay,” said the gentleman, “here are your belongings, but we’re going to keep your cell phone.”

Whoops. Sorry Ian.

More magnetic locks buzzed, and I was ushered into another room with chairs on three sides and two windows for speaking with employees. Having received no instructions, I sat and waited in one of the chairs. Then another young woman came in and went straight to the window. Well, there you go. So I sat and waited as she argued with them that she should not have to provide proof that she was enrolled for the coming year because she was a returning student, and she should not have to provide proof that her finances were in order because she had financial aid. This went on for about fifteen minutes. Finally she left, and I went up. I handed over my paperwork, answered some routine questions, and was told I had been approved. Hooray! I called Ian and we proceeded to have a lovely afternoon and evening in the City involving Pad Thai, miles of walking, a lovely park, some adventures with public transit, and the most amazing garlic restaurant.

Tomorrow from the plane I'll work on sharing with you all the drama of my travel plans brought on by none other than Hurricane Tropical Storm Irene. Much love!

A little bit of background...

Greetings, readers! So I’ve attempted various forms of blogging, journaling, and diarying for much of my life, and I’ve never really stuck with it. For the sake of all of you lovely people who are taking the time to read this, I’ll do my best to make good this time!

I write to you from high in the air, 29,000 feet above the United States. I’m currently flying from San Jose to Chicago watching Fever Pitch (one of the comfort movies I brought along with me) and reflecting on what I’m doing and why. I feel it’s important (maybe not for you, but for me in my documentation of this experience) to share a little bit about why the heck I’m on my way to Jerusalem for the next four months. Last night in my pre-new-and-scary-experience freak-out, I sobbed to my parents, “Why am I doing this?” My father replied, “Because of Michael!” So true. And I suppose that’s where this story really begins.

About eighteen months ago, I called my father during registration time looking for a class to fulfill the Humanities I-B distribution requirement in the second semester of my first year. As I read off titles of courses that would fit in my schedule, I read, “Intro to the New Testament.” “Aha!” my father said. He told me that given my Christian upbringing, it’s a good idea to figure out what this text is that I’m supposedly placing all my faith in. Fair point, Dad. So I registered for Religion 204 along with my dear friend Miriam.

On the first day of the new semester, we met our professor, Michael Penn. Despite the fact that he terrified us on the first day of class (Miriam and I both considered dropping, but stayed in the class because of the other, and we didn’t share these sentiments with one another until well after the class was over), we stuck with it. And boy, am I glad I did! Not only did I learn that Michael is just about the sweetest man ever and make some wonderful friends (several of whom I joined in at least one more Michael Penn class <3), I discovered a passion for religious studies. So the next semester, I took another class with Michael, this time about early Christianity in the Middle East. Then the next semester, another, focusing on the interactions of early Christians and Muslims. I also took an introductory Buddhism class, but found that my real interest was the intersections of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in the first millennium c.e.

I had known since my sister’s experience abroad three years ago that spending a semester abroad was something I would do. She told me that it was probably the most important experience of her college career because she lived in a very different culture and had her ideas and beliefs challenged by it. So for me and for the goals I had for my experience, spending a semester in the U.K. wasn’t going to cut it. For a long time I had considered a Buddhism program in India, but as I took Women & Buddhism last semester, I found that I wasn’t passionate enough about it to want to devote an entire semester to studying it. Then I discovered Hebrew University.

As I researched the program, I got excited. Looking at the programs in India, I felt only apprehension and fear. That’s how I knew that this must be right. I applied, I was admitted, I was given a scholarship, and I knew for sure it was meant to be. (Just ask my friends at Mount Holyoke – there were days when I could talk about little else!) I paid the housing deposit, I applied for a visa, I got all my paperwork in order, I kept taking little steps toward the beginning of my journey...but all of that is part of another story. Stay tuned, my lovely readers!