Settling In

I don't even know where to begin with this blog post. This first week has been a whirlwind to say the least.  After getting settled in on our first day here in Israel, we were thrown right into Ulpan (Intensive Hebrew) classes and forced to figure out how to live in a foreign country.  After wondering around in circles, getting caught in rain/hail storms, and getting kicked off the light rail, we're finally figuring out our way around this place.

Last Thursday night I had one of the coolest nights EVER! I went to the Idan Raichel Project concert with two of my friends from my A Cappella group back at home and it was amazing.  When I first came to Israel on Birthright two summers ago, I was introduced to their song "Bo'ee" and I fell in love with it.  From there on out, anytime I was sad and missing Israel, I would listen to their music.  It was so cool that I got to see them on one of my first nights in Jerusalem.  Of course I cried because it finally hit me that not only was I in Jerusalem, but I get to live here for 5 months.  In the middle of the concert, Idan Raichel played a song that he had just written 5 days earlier and the idea for the song was given to him by Israel's President, Shimon Peres. When they were done performing the song, Shimon Peres surprised the audience and came up on stage to speak.  Everyone stood and applauded.. it was such a cool experience.  By the end of the concert, we were up on our feet dancing in the aisles having an amazing time.

The next day, my roommates and I went to the Shuk to buy kitchen supplies and groceries before Shabbat.  As usual, it was insanely crowded with everyone rushing to buy their food before the start of Shabbat.  Later that day, I went to a Conservative synagogue and then had dinner at the Student Village with other people on my program.  After dinner, we were exhausted and came straight back to our apartment to hangout and sleep.

On Saturday, my roommates and I woke up and got lunch and then met up with some other friends and walked about an hour to the Old City/Kotel.  This was a very fun walk and definitely worth it, but it was very long because we were told to avoid walking through the Arab areas (which we almost accidentally did). In the end, we reached the Kotel just before Havdallah and we stayed there for a while until Shabbat ended.  We immediately went to find dinner as the restaurants began to open at the end of Shabbat and then went to our friend's hostel and met people from all over the world. There was a group from South America that had a guitar, so we easily made friends and began making music together.  It was a very fun time to be with other people our age from other countries who are here because they love Israel too and want to experience all that it has to offer.

Basically, I'm in love with this country and I'm so lucky to be having all these experiences.  I will probably repeat this sentence in every blog post between now and the end of the semester, so please get used to it.  That's it for now.  I hope those of you reading this back in America are staying out of the cold and enjoying your semester!