Each week is so exciting. Whether we’re in class or on field trips, there’s always something to see. This week we spent the beginning of it in classes. In core we learned about King Saul and King David . Mid week we left and headed towards Jerusalem. While originally we were going to do a hike then swim in a spring the weather was much to rainy and chilly to make that fun. Instead we went to Tel Azica, Aloha, the valley where David and Goliath fought, a philistine museum, where we had a picnic lunch, a cave filled with stalagmites, then to Jerusalem itself. We stayed overnight in a hostel which was cool. We did group activities and bounded it was nice to get to know more people.

The next day we went to Sataf, which is a mountain that JNF farms using traditional methods to show people what it was like before modern machines. We talked about agricultural laws then went into the tunnel to the cave that provided the water for irrigation. Then we learned to story of Ruth and talked about conversion and Jewish values.

We then headed to the city of David where we talked about King David. We got to visit the area thought to be his place. From there we went through the water tunnels that saved the Jews from destruction. It was so cool to walk through them. It was so dark and insane to think that people created these out of stone and in such a time of panic. It was breathtaking to see the walls where you could see the marks of them craving the stone away.

We finished the day by going to The Wall. The feeling there is indescribable. If I had to I would say it feels like the center of history, spirituality it is so intense. I cried, it felt like the point of hope.

The food in Israel is different. The dining hall has many dairy sauces, which all taste a little different. The dairy tastes fresher and is know to be higher quality. The whole milk is 6% instead of 4%, which makes it taste different.I really enjoy trying them with different things. The fruit is different because Israel is much more seasonal than the state’s. Right now there’s lots of citrus, which is great. Across from the school are strawberry field and orange trees. The town has many fruit trees in it.

A problem I have is that I procrastinate. I want to get better because often I’ll be doing my homework at night when other people are going out and I want to join them but can’t as I have to finish. I want to start doing it in the afternoon so I can hangout more.

The classes here are different as they are all smaller. The number of different grades and school requirement means that most classes are about 7ish students. My classes are one on one which is a bit intimidating but is great.

The weather has been a bit chilly. The cold here is much more bone chilling, even people from up North agree. The weather should warm up soon but I hadn’t expected it to be quite so cool. Having clothes to layer helps keep you warm.

I haven’t been writing in a dairy daily like I wanted to mostly because homework has had me staying up too late to make it really feasible. Many of the other girls do keep daily journals. I think doing homework earlier in the day will help. We are required to keep journals for the field trips though. I really miss my family and pets. It feels weird not seeing domestic dogs and cats when I get back to the dorm. There are lots of feral cats here.

It’s hard talking and trying to keep people back home up to date as I often just don’t have the time to write what’s going on. I am going to try and get a simple system so that I can do some keeping up. I want things to tell them when I get home too. The kids from the other school are weird but nice. I have talked to some of them but many speak mostly Hebrew. They are a bit intimidating at first but it gets better.