{"id":8905,"date":"2017-08-18T15:41:47","date_gmt":"2017-08-18T19:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.rollins.edu\/wpsites\/letters\/?p=8905"},"modified":"2019-07-15T15:02:45","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T15:02:45","slug":"the-beginning-of-my-israeli-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/2017\/08\/18\/the-beginning-of-my-israeli-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beginning of my Israeli Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey y’all! This Sunday marks three weeks since I left home to study abroad in Tel Aviv, Israel. Coming here, I had no idea what to expect. Although I grew up Jewish, Hebrew was not a language spoken around me and the sabbath was not a sabbath but just another day of the week. I knew Israel would not only bring my awareness to a\u00a0culture that I have long been curious to learn about, but spending a semester in Tel Aviv would be the experience of a lifetime.<\/p>\n

My program is slightly different than many other study abroad programs. Before I can even take classes at Tel Aviv University, I have to complete Ulpan, or an intensive Hebrew study course for seven weeks. Every Sunday thru Thursday, from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm, I am learning both grammatical and conversational Hebrew. While learning Hebrew at Rollins was helpful for this, learning a language is an entirely new experience when you are surrounded by it at bus stops, coffee shops, malls, beaches, and everywhere you look. I can hail a cab, give them my destination, and ask how much it will cost before I look like a tourist. My biggest accomplishment so far has been the two TAU students who asked me for directions in Hebrew. I couldn’t help them, but I was flattered they thought I knew what I was doing and that I spoke Hebrew.<\/p>\n

At TAU, I live with three other girls who are also doing the semester program. My roommate is a junior at UPenn, and our suitemates attend Vassar College and Binghamton University. Before I arrived in Tel Aviv, I had no idea who I was living with or where for that matter. I was definitely nervous that I would get here and not have a place to stay, but our living situation could not be better. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Because we only have class until 1 o’clock right now, we have plenty of time to explore the country. This week alone I drove an ATV through the Jerusalem Mountains, saw the Bahai Gardens in Haifa, the grottoes in Rosh HaNikra, Caesarea, and Acre. I also have had my fair share of hummus, falafel, pita, and fresh squeezed orange juice.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am so excited to see what the rest of this semester holds. Studying abroad is something I have always wanted to do, and a huge reason I chose to attend Rollins back in 2015 was because of how many students study abroad every semester. This past winter I did a once in a lifetime field study led by Dr. McLaren and Dr. Arun Gandhi. I have found myself recently comparing my time in India to my life here in Israel. My program ends in January, so\u00a0already that is way different than a winter break field study. Also, in Israel I am kinda on my own. By studying abroad in Israel, I hope to become a more independent traveler and understand as much as I can about this diverse country. It is beautiful to me how so many different people can love one land as much as they do. I have already fallen in love with the people, the culture, and the lifestyle.<\/p>\n

!\u05dc\u05d9\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4 <\/span>\u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05de\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hey y’all! This Sunday marks three weeks since I left home to study abroad in Tel Aviv, Israel. Coming here, I had no idea what to expect. Although I grew up Jewish, Hebrew was not a language spoken around me and the sabbath was not a sabbath but just another day of the week. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14834,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8905\/revisions\/14834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}