And So It Goes...

Just three days - and two finals - stand between me and eighteen days of exploring Israel with my parents! I can't believe I have already been here an entire semester - almost three and a half months! (Or to really put it into perspective - almost half of Gabby's life!)

This past week was long and not really all that great. Last night was my first good night of sleep in a week, and I'm sure that was only because I took Tylenol PM. My back hasn't really been bothering me more than normal (if it is normal for someone my age to have a certain level of constant back pain!); I just haven't been able to sleep. At least my Hebrew oral exam and final are over! I am also all studied out for my Aramaic and Archaeology finals, but unfortunately, there is still more studying to be done.

I don't really have anything new and exciting to report. Life in Jerusalem is surprisingly similar to life in Ohio. At least my life here is much like my life back home. Just with lots more guns and security. My campus is on the eastern fringes of Jerusalem. There are a lot of maps of Jerusalem that don't even include Mt Scopus, and if they do, it is just barely. In other words, we are far away from everything. The buses are not convenient, and taxis are expensive. And, of course, there is always studying to be done. So sadly I am not living a very exciting life here in Jerusalem.

Ayana (the Israeli who is helping me with my Hebrew through the Language Buddies program) took me to Ben Yehuda and City Center yesterday. There is surprisingly little open on Shabbat, and even that was more than I expected. Just a few restaurants, and most of them were full. I think we went to four different places before we found one that could take us. Ayana has been a wonderful help, and I am sure I have amused her plenty, not only with my horrendous pronunciations but also because everything I say is in the present tense! We just started learning the past tense at the end of the semester, and the verbs we learned are not verbs I commonly use. I also found out something interesting about Israeli universities: not only do they get a half hour break during their 3 1/2 hour classes, they also get two chances to pass their finals AND if they have exams on two consecutive days, they can reschedule one of them! While I benefit from the half hour break, the other two do not appear to apply to RIS. Or if they do, no one told me and so I am taking my exams on back-to-back days. Ayana thought it was horrid that someone would have to do that. In undergrad, I would have more than one final on the same day!