This photo was taken outside the Rapaport Dorm on Tuesday, January 29 on the wooden swings. There wasn’t any historical context of this photo, although the new beginning of the friendship in some ways represents the beginning of the AMHSI program in 1972. Also, after having getting to know my roommates more, a lesson I learned was that even though we will make new friends throughout the course of the program, we will always have each other to talk to. During this photo we were working on a homework assignment which ironically was about how there were times in Judaic history that people got a fresh start. An example of this was the story of Noah’s Ark. G-d wiped out almost all of humanity in order to get a new start with a righteous leader. This relates to this AMHSI semester trip because when students begin the program, they are essentially given a fresh start. So far I have been having a good experience. I bonded really well with one of my roommates, Jess, and have made other friends outside of our rooms. I am still a little intimidated by the amount of people here and how I have to be consistently outgoing for the next couple of days. I am really excited for the next four months at AMHSI!