A goal I have for my time here in Israel this semester is to allow myself time to have fun and make connections with people. It would be easy for me to spend all my time either doing homework, other individual work, reading or calling my family, all activities that keep me in my room. But I know that being here is truly a once in a lifetime experience and I don’t want to miss out on the memories and friendships that will be made. The tricky thing for me as schoolwork increases will be to balance the two. I need to do my homework and I have a very hard time being productive when I am around many other people, so working in a communal area will not be an efficient use of either my studying or fun time. However, I have taken to helping others with their homework and studying in a group. My hope is that as the workload increases, I will still find time to be with other people in the context of school and have free time for myself and socializing.

Another goal I have is to improve my Hebrew. I have learned Hebrew in varying classes before because I went to Jewish Day School, but I’ve always struggled most with speaking. The opportunity to take a Hebrew class and even better, to be surrounded by Hebrew speakers, is something I have been looking forward to about this program. My goal is that I will be more comfortable speaking in Hebrew while I am here - in shops, restaurants and in class; and that when I return home, I will be able to keep this knowledge.

A third goal of mine for this semester is to acquire knowledge and personal connection to Israel and the Jewish people. I have always known in my head that as a Jew I am connected to Israel and other Jews, but getting to learn specific information and travel to these important places will hopefully further enforce this major part of my identity. At home, I go to a public school and with so much political tension over Israel, I think that it is really important and I am incredibly grateful that I have this chance to explore my Jewish identity in Israel, not just from a classroom in Seattle. My goal is that I can get the absolute most out of this experience and that I will bring this connection back to my life back home.