During these past two months, I've gained much knowledge about how to get myself around and learned some tips to make sure I’m doing things right.

Hello again, this week’s blog is about students’ guide to life in Israel. To be frank, there’s a lot of differences that make school here really different. My experiences as a student here have made me really re-think how I felt about certain aspects of American high school.

There are a lot of differences in Israel that you have to adapt to if you want to feel comfortable here. Israel is our homeland so you want to feel as home here as you can and do to that you have to know how to live here and be able to adjust.

What exactly is a living classroom? Furthermore, how exactly can the land of Israel be a living classroom? These are questions that someone who has not had the privilege of spending time learning the history of the Jewish people in the holy land of Israel might have. For me, this concept of Israel as a living classroom makes perfect sense.

There are many pieces of advice that I could give to a student who is planning to come to Israel. First of all, you can’t forget that you have responsibilities as a student as well as a tourist. Sometimes, you have to miss out on a trip to the beach or a trip into town with friends because you have a test that you need to study for that you didn’t have time to study for while on the tiyul yesterday. That goes with the fact that you have to remember you aren’t just here on vacation, you have to keep up with your schoolwork to make the trips more enjoyable.

One really big thing I had to adapt to was the food on campus. The food here is not the greatest. And I know, you’re probably thinking, what is she talking about, the food in Israel is amazing. Well you are right, the food in Israel is amazing, but the food on campus is not comparable to other food in Israel. I have learned to figure out how to find the good foods in the chadar ochel and to not eat all meals there while still staying in my budget. For example, I buy food from the store and keep it in the fridge and other times eat out. In Israel, you have to have an open mind.

Adapting to life in Israel, as well as life at HSI, was no small challenge. The language barrier is the first obstacle one encounters when arriving in Israel. Although the vast majority of the population speaks some English, many Israelis have trouble expressing themselves as clearly as a native speaker would. In hopes of facilitating daily life, students should try their hardest to learn basic Hebrew phrases and words, such as numbers and directions. The effort it takes to commit these to memory is insignificant compared to how much it simplifies everyday life.

The first and most obvious thing that I noticed was the weather. If I could describe Seattle weather in one word, it would be, crummy. During most of the year, the sky is grey and it is not very warm. On the other hand, I have already gotten so used to the warm weather here, that when I walked outside this morning, and it was 75 degrees, I was cold. I am thoroughly enjoying the warm weather here and so far the lack of rain.

Using Israel has my classroom and seeing the remains of our great cities, wars we’ve won and lost, and many other sites has given me a much deeper understanding of what the Jewish people went through and made me feel extremely connected to my Jewish history. I’m so excited for the next three months here in Israel.

Israel has been my home for a little over a month and it has been amazing. The things I’ve learned so far will always stay with me. I’m having the time of my life. Israel has definitely changed my life and it’s like my living classroom. For example, I feel like it prepares us for college life and living on campus without our family and with a bunch of new faces has prepared us and in a way matured us which I love. I love being more independent and not relying on my parents for everything. Also, I love how interactive our classes are. Especially never growing up going to Jewish/Hebrew school, I love learning about our history and our ancestors.

On Tuesday, September 3rd 2019, we traveled to Har Gilboa, to descend its rocky face and discuss the history of the Judges and Saul and their respective periods. The picture above is from near the top of Mount Gilboa, or as I think about it, approximately 45 minutes before it gets difficult.

I see Israel as my living classroom in many ways. To start off, our main class is Israeli studies. As we learn about Israel, we go on different tiyuls to different places where Israel's history took place. At home, I don’t take any Jewish centered classes. I go to a public school so everything is very different. I feel like I learn so much more because we get to go to places where events have happened.

I have used Israel as a living classroom by having the opportunity to learn about the history while seeing it at the sights. I have been able to walk around and imagine what happened on the ground I was standing on. I think that this is really important to be able to go out and see the history we are learning through our own eyes because you get “front row seats” to the history of Israel.

In America, we learn about the history of our people but here we have our classes in the places that history happened at and we get to experience what our past ancestors went through. We aren't forced to stay in a small classroom at school in the same place every day with no change of scenery, here we do learn in classrooms but we take little field trips and move on our feet throughout the days and see the things in our textbooks come to life. We imagine what it was like in the past.

Back home I have a very traditional school, it starts early in the morning, I see the teachers once, and I sit in desks all day. It's a very conventional and normal environment. Only here in Israel, every site is my classroom. There is so much to learn all around us. In a normal history class, you learn about it and you never get the chance to see it. Here, once we learn about something, we get to see, where a battle happened or where people lived before. I really appreciate how we can see first hand were past Jews and others used to live.

Since I have been in Israel, my group has been traveling the country and using it as our classroom for our Israel Studies class. We base our travels on the time periods we learn about in class. Using Israel as my classroom has been great because we get to learn about something in the classroom and then actually see and experience it through activities, stories, and adventures. This helps me reinforce the information that we learn in class and forge a stronger connection with what I read on paper.

Using “the land as your classroom” is the slogan of AMHSI. The core Israel studies class follows the history of our people in the classroom and physically in the land; across the preserved history of archaeological sites and by walking the same paths as our ancestors on hikes. We bring our notebooks, find a shady spot to sit and have our lessons right out there on the trail - the land is our classroom in a very literal sense.

As the first month of the program comes to a close I have started to really observe the benefits of using the land of Israel as a living classroom. School in Israel includes everything that I would find in school at home. From note taking, to quizzes, to really hard unit tests that force us to use all the knowledge we have learned in our classes. But in our Israeli studies class, we take it a step further, and get to explore the ruins and spiritual sites to compliment what we learn in class.

I can see Israel as my living classroom in two major ways. First off, in our Israel studies class, we learn about different sites in Israel and what happened there historically and then go and visit it and learn more about what happened there, there. In that way, Israel is my classroom because I got to learn about Masada on Masada rather than in a class in Miami.

I have spent much of my time here in Israel sitting in or studying for my many classes. However, school is not the only place that I learn; I have found that everyday life here teaches me just as much, if not more, than my academic courses. For example, I have a Hebrew class several times a week that has taught me formal grammatical rules. Although this subject has been helpful, the majority of my knowledge of the language comes from exposure. After about a month here, I find it far easier to understand, pronounce and repeat words and even sentences in Hebrew. Hearing students my age speaking with each other has provided me with an invaluable opportunity to pick up on key phrases and colloquial expressions.