Travels

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I spent my Pesach break in London and Ireland. A bunch of my close friends are studying in London, so I stayed with them in their dorm near Kings Cross. They had been complaining about their dorm, because it's brand new but nothing quite works right, but it's like palace compared to my prison of a dorm room. It was really nice to see them again, but it was strange to be in London with them- I had planned on studying there for this semester up until late last summer.

The day after I got there, their program took them to Brighton Beach, so I came along for the trip. Brighton Beach is beautiful. The pier is really fun and the whole town is just adorable. The first weekend I was in London, my friends and I hung out while they did some work. I went to the Camden Market on that Saturday with my friends Alyssa, Lucia, and Esther. Near the market is a big area with food vendors from all over the world, and I had some great Indian food, which I've missed a lot. I had a lot of great Indian food in London. That night, Meg and I went to see The Magic Flute, an opera by Mozart done with almost a tribal theme. It was really awesome.

During the week, I went sightseeing while Meg and Alyssa had class. I went to the Tate Modern Gallery, the Tower of London, Regent's Park, and the British Museum. That Thursday, Meg, Alyssa, and I went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and then Alyssa and I went to Harrods and Harvey Nichols. I got some nice tea and chocolate from Harrods- it was pretty much all I could afford.

My friend Abe and I went to a Passover seder at Chabad for the first night, and we dragged Catholic Meg there too so she could experience 1 Passover and 2 Chabad. The second night was Meg's birthday, so we went to afternoon tea during the day (definitely could not resist the scones and sandwiches!!) and then that night, Abe, his girlfriend Aviva, and some of our friends and I had our own seder and then a birthday dinner for Meg.

The next week, I went to Ireland for a few days to visit my friend Mike from camp. Our friend Gary took us around the outskirts of Dublin to Glendalough monastery and some pretty mountains and lakes. Monday night we went to Temple Bar in Dublin and I had my first Guinness. There was a really fun band playing, so we stayed and listened to them until they finished. They played the song Galway Girl and I got it stuck in my head for about a week. The next day, we took a bus to Limerick, where my friend Mike goes to school. He showed me around the town and his campus. His campus has bars like NYU has dining halls. The next day, we went to Galway and wandered around there for a bit until Mike's mom picked us up and took us to the town where they live, Ahascragh, which is tiny. There are about 600 people and 5 bars in this town (one of which is owned by Mike's family), and it makes Clinton look like a city. I flew back to London that Thursday.

Our friend Ed came to London for my last weekend there. He's studying in Florence, so it was nice to see him and swap study abroad stories. We went to Camden Market again that Saturday, and that Saturday night we went out with a whole bunch of people. I flew back to Tel Aviv that Sunday.

Classes this week have been pretty normal. I've been working on a service for Yom Hazikaron next Tuesday night, where I'm singing this beautiful song. It's really fun to sing in front of people again, and the people I'm working with are really great. My program took us to Yad Vashem on Thursday for Yom HaShoah, and I've spent the last two days at the beach.

I'm only in Israel for another 5 weeks. I'm going to Eilat next weekend with my friend Hilary- we have a five day weekend for Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haazmaut. We're going to Petra for a day too. Later this month, after classes end, Hilary and I going to Cairo.

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