The Real Semester

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Last Sunday the campus at University of Haifa changed drastically from being nearly empty and occupied only by overseas students to being filled from wall to wall by 15,000 students in total. The hallways, elevators, and even outdoor grassy areas are crowded all the time. It's unbelievable. All of the sudden there is noise and activity. It's nice to finally feel a part of a university atmosphere. I am going to be a part of a dialogue group made up of 10 overseas students and 10 Israelis. We'll meet once a week, speak half in Hebrew and half in English, and talk about who knows what. It should be interesting. I'm also looking into joining club swimming--we'll see if that works out.
Sunday, I visited Jerusalem with the rest of the Carmel group. We visited the Western Wall and the accompanying tunnel excavations, and met with Rabbi Uri Regev, the director of the World Movement for Progressive Judaism, Anat Hoffman, the director of the Israeli Religious Action Center, Iri Kasel, the director of the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism, and with the director of MASA, a campaign to give students scholarships to study in Israel. It was a long day of meetings, but a good day of meetings. We heard a lot about the connections between progressive Jews around the world and in Israel.
Today was Jess, my roommate's birthday. At her request we went out for Thai food, which was surprisingly tasty, and later watched Dirty Dancing on DVD. The rest of this weekend will be dedicated to studies, because, finally, the work load is beginning to pile up.
Shabbat Shalom!

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Photos

Jess's Birthday
At the local Thai restaurant

Jess's Birthday
At the local Thai restaurant

Comments

[Sonam]

I'm jealous. Very, very jealous =)