http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Middle East , Israel , South District , Be er Sheva en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:16:41 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:16:41 UTC The Negeb is an unbelieveably harsh and desolate place. There are huge canyons immense cliffs and very little plant life. During the Exodus both Edom and Moab refused to allow Israel to cross their territory forcing the Israelites to enter the Negeb. Aaron the High Priest died on Mt. Hor.One of the few cities in the Negeb was Beersheba. The ancient city is now an archeological site. We saw http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-326023.html Hey yallI just got back from the dead sea and the ein gedi desert. You should try to find it on a map. Its important to know your geography. If someone asked you where iraq was and you pointed to germany you would look like a fool.. think about it Any way the dead sea was really nice you can float without using your hands and the sea floor instead of sand is crystalized salt. Then we took a http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-253014.html Hey everyoneIm here at ben gurion university in the Negev the Israeli desert. It is the most northern and biggest city in the Negev. I started studying hebrew and other israeli classes history politics and holocaust studies. Every weekend i travel to the center Tel aviv and Rishon lezyyon. Its easy to travel here because it is such a small state. You can get from my city beer sheva to tel a http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-250718.html Well it's now 11am on Saturday morning December 22nd which means that I have about eight hours to pack up my life from the past five months into a few suitcases so that I can fly HOME tonight. I wish I had written more blog entries while I was here and because I started quite a few that I never ended up publishing I'll definitely be doing some reflective entries from back home in Santa Cruz http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-229491.html One of the really fun things about writing a blog is receiving comments and messages from people who read the blog. Most of the comments come from my friends but also quite a few have come from people whom Irsquove never met people who happened upon my blog and decided to read it. That to me is very cool to know that my blog is just lsquoout therersquo on the web and anyone theoretic http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-201374.html Hey Guys just a quick Update before I leave on Vacation.Ulpan ended Wednesday after 6 weeks. It was an experience but it was very tough trying to learn a year of hebrew in 6 weeks. We had our exam which went very well. That night we had an end of ulpan party at the Beer Avraham. Which in Hebrew means Abrahams well. Bascially when Abraham was in Israel people would dig wells because there was ver http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-200148.html FIRST I STILL APOLOGIZE FOR THE LONG RUSHED SUMMARY OF THE PAST FEW WEEKSSunday brought us back to classes in the mornings with afternoons spent doing homework by the pool. Monday night was our second movie night and this time we watched a film called ldquoSof Harsquoolam Ssmolardquo or ldquoTurn Left at The End of the Worldrdquo made in 2004. It is very popular film here about new im http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-196553.html Monday night the 20th was our first weekly movie night. We watched an Israeli musical from the 1970rsquos that was a cross between Grease and West Side Story and God knows what else. The movie was about a small village in the desert whose residents didnrsquot have enough money to maintain their property. The government refused to help them fund repairs and threatened to destruct their town http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-196551.html For the first 6 weeks of my study abroad program I have intensive Hebrew classes referred to as Ulpan for three hours a day five days a week. During the Ulpan sessions we have group trips every weekend to familiarize ourselves with the country and to encourage travel before the semester begins. Ulpan began Monday July 20th and the class ideally covers two semesters of Hebrew in six weeks. Ulp http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-196547.html The flightThe day before our scheduled departure from JFK the Israeli workforce announced that it would strike on the Wednesday that our flight was scheduled which put our departure in jeopardy. The program advisor from the New York office was in contact with all of the students via email constantly and we all prepared for the possibility that our plane may not take off. Fortunately that strike http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-196546.html Hello Everyone First let me apologize for taking so very long to contact everyone and update you all on my 1st month in Israel. As most of you know I will be spending my first semester of Junior year studying in Israel through the GinsburgIngerman Overseas Student Program at BenGurion University of the Negev. I will primarily be residing in Beer Sheva in the Negev desert. I have chosen this http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-196545.html hey guys this isnt a normal post. I just finished watching a movie that if you havent seen yet then you should see right away. Its called American History X. The biggest actor in it is Edward Norton. It is the story of a young kid who is a white supremacist and ends up going to jail for murdering to African Americans for breaking into his car. The story from there forcus' on Norton's younger broth http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-196227.html Hey GuysSorry I havent written in a week. I am just getting better from a nasty stomache bug that I had. I was pretty sick for a week but am much better now. Let me fill you in on what has happened in the last couple of weeks. Somthing I am very excited about is that on Thursday I met with the head of the Overseas Students Program and signed up for my classes this semester. I will be taking hebrew http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-195857.html Following the instructions from the decadesold poster I visited the West Bank. The journey was perhaps one of the most politically intriguing experience I went through. The boarder between West Bank and Israel is marked by a fenced concrete wall erecting perhaps more than 8 meters. It took us me and 2 other westerners 10 minutes to get from Jerusalem to the crossing by shared taxi. The gate w http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-165142.html Last week our class went on our first extended field trip to the Negev. The Negev is an area in the south of Israel which are the dry lands or the wilderness. This is where the Israelites wandered for forty years while waiting for the Promise Land. We left on Tuesday the 6th and came back on friday the 9th.The Negev is composed of many different regions and cities basically there is a eastern bas http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-137800.html Thanks for all the concern and the prayers from home yrsquoall they mean the world to me Irsquom staring straight in the face of the final countdown for summer 2006 Bersquoer Sheva edition. While now I have effectively dealt with the waves of depression that come when a change is on the horizon Irsquom still not looking forward to the two days it will take me to get back to Arkansa http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-76871.html After people find this out they normally snicker and say something about it being the ldquoCapital of the Negev.rdquo Irsquom finding that it is really not so bad. How about some observations of this place that I currently call homeA town of about 200000 people it is the biggest city in the desert region of Israel. I know you must be thinking that ALL of Israel is a desert but my fr http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-70041.html Excuse the long break from the blog I've been filling every one of my days here with new and groundbreaking experiences Also internet access is slightly limited I SHOULD be working right now... but I will try my best to catch yall up. The last time we talked I was heading to Jerusalem for a funfilled weekend with old friends. And it was just that. Yossi and I checked into our hotel an http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-69182.html Shalom y'allI hope my post finds you all well and happy. I'm enjoying the end of the week here at work finally acknowledging this starting on Sunday ending on Thursday thing. This last Sunday I definitely found myself thinking that I had a Case of the Mondays only to be disappointed by the realization that it in fact was not Monday. In Israel they call it the Depressing Sundays. Great http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/South-District/Be-er-Sheva/blog-65159.html