Yesterday was probably one of the longest days of my life, but worth every moment. The day started at 6:15 AM when I woke from my alarm to get on a 7 AM bus to Jerusalem. Having not been back to Jerusalem since 10th grade, I was extremely excited but exhausted as well. Our itinerary for the day was as follows: a tour of the Knesset (Israel's Parliament Government Building), a stop at the Tayelet (a look-out of the city of Jerusalem), Mahane Yehuda Market (Jerusalem's Shuk), the Kotel, Old City of Jerusalem and the Jewish Quarter, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, then a buffet dinner, with some free time thrown into the crazy day. As we pulled into Jerusalem, I was filled with a rush of emotions - familiarity, love, warmth, spirituality and culture. I was instantly happy and the scenery was gorgeous with a bright sunny day that definitely needed a pair of sunglasses.
To put it simply, Jerusalem is amazing. I was so happy to be back, to experience some of the same adventures that I had in 10th grade, but with a different group of people and a well-balanced maturity now that I never had back in high school. Everything was extremely different than the life I've been living in Tel Aviv - a more social, young, vibrant, international city whereas Jerusalem is more spiritual and religious. Both have their perks, I am very happy to be living in Tel Aviv, but Jerusalem is the perfect diversion, I'm excited to go back and spend a weekend there. At the Shuk, I purchased some dried fruit and nuts and tasted bits and pieces from each stand - the ginormous strawberries were delicious, the fruit is so fresh here.
As a foreigner in Israel, the Kotel/Western Wall is a huge tourist attraction and even though I've been there a handful of times while living in Jerusalem on TRY, the wall never ceases to amaze me. I value the different experiences I have there every time, I wrote wishes and stuck them into crevices in the wall and was able to see my friends' emotions as for some of them it was their first time there. And the best yet was being able to see two of my closest friends from Indiana University who are studying abroad at Hebrew University come to see me - I haven't seen them in about a year --- you know what they say, "next year in Jerusalem" which was where we all ended up being.
Since the day was so jam-packed, each activity was extremely short...I'm already ready to go back to Jeru, who wants to come?. I can't believe how quickly the semester is flying by, with it already being February I need to take advantage of everything here. I'm excited to start traveling more and trying new things. Oh and just btw to everyone, I got an 100% on my last Ulpan test, I'm trying to use it more and more in public places and Taxi's, maybe I will become bilingual, that's the ultimate goal! Hope you're all enjoying the snow while I'm soaking it up in the sun.
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