Alright .... So this is my first time with a blog (I didn't even know how to set one up -- thank you Carmen for helping me with that!) ... So you will all have to bear with me as I figure out everything I can do!
Catch up for everyone that isn't my parents (the only people I've spoken to since arriving) ...
The plane ride went fairly well. I just barely made my connection but that was kind of nice because I didn't have to wait around in a random airport for a long period of time! The flight to Tel Aviv was a little bit more of a struggle. It was WAY too long on an airplane and I didn't get any sleep. On the up side, there were two other people going to JUC on my flight and we met another person at the airport and then a whole group of eight in the parking lot, so the ride to Jerusalem was fun and easy!
Friday was move-in day and it was pretty easy. My roommate's name is Michelle. She's from Houston and is completing the same Masters degree I am, so we have most of our classes together. After that it was just dinner and hanging out ... leading to very little sleep again.
Saturday! It was a fun and exhausting day ... orientation, signing up for classes and all the technical stuff. Later we were split into groups to do a "scavenger hunt" in the Old City -- my group got distracted after about 10 minutes and we ended up just wandering around looking at whatever we wanted to see. This entitled seeing the Dome of the Rock (from afar) and the Wailing Wall (no there are no pictures yet, it was Sabbath and you cannot take pictures at the Wall on Saturdays). After dinner we received an official guided tour of the new city, at least everything within walking distance. This also led to another night of very little sleep.
Jet lag killed me this weekend.
Sunday was better! We had our first official class. Our Physical Settings teacher took the class on a tour/beginners introduction to the Old City. I have no idea where we all went but I am fairly determined to find most of the places again! One of the cool things is that rooftops are considered public spaces, so we can just go up on the roofs and enjoy the view!
In the morning, a group of us went to one of the options for churches in the area (I believe it was called Christ's Church -- there might have been more to the name). It's located in the Old City and its an anglican church. The cool thing about it is that the priests incorporated Hebrew into some of the service (yes I was completely lost but I will learn) and they offer classes on our (Christians') Jewish roots.
Anyway ... I thought I would catch everyone up. Technically I had my first day of classes today, but I think that's enough info for the moment! Besides, it's 9:30pm here and I have to be up at 6 am! Michelle and I are checking out the Church of the Holy Sepulchre tomorrow morning after breakfast.
(I have not figured out to upload pictures to the blog yet -- as I said, I'm not technologically savvy -- but I will keep trying or have someone explain it to me!)
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