Shalom in the Home

Well, good news. I'm still alive. But after 17 hours of flying and about 4 hours of sleep in the past 2 days I have to say jet lag has gotten the best of me. I had to be at the Salt Lake airport at 4am on Tuesday (I think it was Tuesday, the days are all a blur for me now) and I realized I had forgotten my name tag, my luggage bag didn't have a handle. Then, after that the check-in took so long that me and 3 other students almost missed our flight and they actually called the plane to ask them to wait for us. So, as you can probably imagine it was about that time that I started asking myself what the heck was I doing. But, by the time I had made it to the airport in D.C. I had already become fast friends with my group. The people here are ridiculously nice so that helps. So from D.C. we made it to Vienna, and from there to Tel Aviv and finally....Jerusalem. We were all so tired when we got to the Center but they wouldn't let us go to sleep until late that night because they wanted us to get adjusted to the time change here. So..I'm still adjusting and my sleeping and eating habits area completely out of whack. Hopefully that adjusts itself soon.

Anyways, the Center is AMAZING. I seriously did not expect it to be that nice. I can't believe I get to call this place home for the next 3 and half months. I wish I could upload pictures but they said we can't on the server here...hmmm...I might try to see if that rule really applies the whole time. But just outside my room there is a patio with the most incredible view of the city. Which brings me to the city...I LOVE IT. We got to take a tour of the Old City today and I have already fallen in love with this place. There is just a different feel, something I can't really explain. It's different getting used to how you act in this culture, for example it's not a good idea to smile at older men and people here just usually avoid eye contact. So...basically I have to keep reminding myself not to smile to everyone which is SO hard because how can you not smile when you get to live here?? Oh and everyone here wears chacos and doesn't think its weird so I really know I'm at home. We also started our classes which seem like a lot of work but really really cool at the same time. Sooo...all in all yes, I am alive and very very happy. I'm just soaking in every second of this experience and LOVING IT. boo ya.