First Day in Jerusalem

My adventure begins! Here's a break-down of the past 72 hours: first, I took a flight from Phoenix to Newark, NJ on Sunday. I used the magic of Facebook to organize a dinner meet-and-greet in Newark with four other people from my program. They were a lot of fun, and we all have similar interests in Judaism, the Bible, archaeology, etc. I spent the night in a hotel, and the next morning made my way back to the airport for my flight to Tel Aviv.

I flew El Al, the Israeli airline. El Al is famous for their security screenings--before I was allowed to check my bag and get my boarding pass, I was subjected to a number of questions--do I speak Hebrew? Do I know anybody in Israel? Why do I want to study there? Do I belong to any congregations back home? To that last question, I answered "no, I am not Jewish." Big mistake--they confiscated my carry-ons to be searched for weapons. I wasn't the only one--me and all the other non-Jews were in the same boat. I got my bags back before the flight (they had to swab my shoes to check for chemicals). The flight was actually really nice--I had a personal TV screen which I used to watch movies, and with help from Tylenol PM I managed to sleep through most of the journey. The airline didn't even lose my bag! At the airport, we saw a big group of Ethiopian Jews making aliyah--how appropriate, considering the title of this blog!

First impressions of Israel--it is a LOT greener than I was expecting. As I told my mom in a text message, it really IS flowing with milk and honey. It's also a lot hillier--borderline mountainous--than I thought, and much more rocky.



The dorms at Herbew University are about a 40 minute bus-ride from the airport in Tel Aviv, so soon enough I was checking into my dorm. I have three roommates currently--Alex, a student from San Francisco, another Alex (who is Israeli), and a third international student from China whose name I cannot pronounce. The Chinese international student is going back home this weekend, so chances are I will get a replacement roommate. The apartments are pretty college-esque, nothing spectacular, but comfortable enough. Our kitchen is in need of some serious Clorox bleach (American Alex and I agreed), so we will be polishing the place up as soon as time permits. My room has a view of East Jerusalem, and the Dome of the Rock is JUST visible over the top of a building. I haven't made it anywhere outside of Hebrew University (except to buy sheets and stuff), but here's a picture I took from my window.



Other fun facts: I ate my first (real) falafel from an Arab street vendor, and it was freaking amazing. The actual Hebrew University campus is a bit of a walk from the dorms, but the whole campus (and the student housing complex) are very secure--a 24 hour security staff, metal detectors, etc. My bedroom has a mezuzah on the door frame! I am surprised at the sheer number of stray cats who congregate on the Hebrew U campus--literally hundreds! And finally, I never realized how close Jerusalem is to the West Bank. Below is a shot of the Hebrew University amphitheater. You can see (in the close-up underneath it) the wall which divides Israel from the West Bank.





My first Hebrew class begins in an hour, so I've been pretty busy--much more posts + pictures to come!