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!