Life as Nativ'er :) Just Gets BETTER!

Hebrew University:

If this is what college is actually like...I'm glad i am getting practice now! Even though I only have 4 classes, I am more stressed than I ever was in high school. My week is like this:

Sunday- No school. I am one of the very lucky few who do not have any class on Sunday. This means i get a 3 day weekend!

Monday- Ulpan @8:30
Business Ethics @2:30

Holocaust @4:30

*because there is only a 4 hour break in between Business and Ulpan and I live at least 30-35 min away (depending on traffic it can be longer) I don't go home...meaning I am here ALL DAY!


Tuesday- Ulpan @8:30
Continuity and Change in Modern Jewish History @2:30


Wednesday- NO ULPAN (SLEEP IN DAY!)
Business Ethics @2:30
Holocaust @4:30

Thursday- Ulpan @8:30
Continuity and Change in Modern Jewish History @2:30


All my classes are 2 hours long except Ulpan. 2 Days a week Ulpan is 4 hours with a 30 min break in between.

Me and the birthday girl DANA

 Birthday
ExTrAvAgAnZa!     

      For my friend Dana's birthday we had a crazy weekend of fun! first crack! Crack square...the



Small birthday party w/ me, her roommates
and some family friends that her and I stayed with
one free weekend.

   armpit of Jerusalem is where all the American kids and sleazy Israeli men go and party. It was so much fun! We counted down until it was midnight! All of Crack joined in and then we all stood up at cheered! The bar we were at gave Dana a free champagne with a sparkler in it. It was such a good way to start her birthday.

               BUT....I had to get up kinda early the next morning because we were going on a mini birthday road trip. Me, Dana, Ashleigh, and a few boys were going to Hertzelia. She has a friend there who goes to the IDC school.We took a sherot taxi there because there were enough of us so it would not be that expensive. Even though we were not on base for Shabbat, the kid we were staying with and his roommates made a shabbat dinner and we did kiddush and had challah and shabbat candles. It was so delicious!

               The next day we went to the beach. They told us it would be about a 30 min walk to the beach from his apartment..it turned out to be about an hour and a half walk. Not a fun way to start the day...but we finally got the the most beautiful beach. It was so clean and nice. The water was warm and so was the air. It was so nice to just relax and get away from base.


*The day after, Ari Marcus Young asked me to be his girl friend....so cute!


Idan Concert
                  MASA, the organization that I am apart of, put on a concert for ALL the gap year kids that are here in Israel. There were so many kids there! First there were speeches (or coarse) and some dance group came out and danced to songs that represent different places in Israel...and then the real show started! The Idan Rachel Project came out and performed. They were AMAZING! Everyone got up and danced! This group has such a unique sound and everyone should know them!

Wearing our Nativ shirts with pride
at the concert!          

 


 

  

If You Cant Handle The Heat...Step Away From The Toaster!

                  I decided it is time to experiment with the food here. Although the insta-soups and grilled cheese aren't five star quality..maybe it is time to expand my horizons. We do get dinner two times a week here at Agron, but to be honest...you can not eat the food here more than once a week.
                  Shopping list:
1.Beans
2.Tortillas
3.Cheese
(Can you guess what I am making?)
4.Eggs
5.Brownie Mix


                  We don't have a kitchen here that we are able to use (we will have one in our apartments in Ber Sheva). Instead they gave us a few microwaves and toasters. We also have a few hot plates that were left to us from past nativers (Thanks Ally  <3 ). So tonight I wanted to make brownies...so I experimented with the toaster and made toaster brownies! They turned out SO much better than I thought. Especially because I didn't have a measuring cup to measure out the oil or water :)

My toaster oven brownies

  I couldn't take it anymore!! I NEEDED MEXICAN FOOD NOW! So I went to the supersol across the street and brought the necessary items to make a classic bean and cheese burrito. It was the best burrito I have ever eaten.

                  I cant wait to actually have everyone cooking in Ber Sheva! We have such good cooks in our group..a few kids have been cooking up  STORM here...they have made pesto and pasta, chicken, and veggies just to name a few items. It always makes our hallway smell amazing :)

This is my work station. Table, toaster, and microwave! This is at the end of my
hallway in the old building (my building)

My Home Away From Home-
Here are a few pictures of Agron....

THE DOOR TO MY ROOM
624



the hallway that leads to my room in the old building



Our messy (at the moment) room

My bed that I share with one of my two roommates, Debra. I have
the top bunk and the closet that is open is also mine.

our tiny little shower!

 *overall it is a really nice place to live!

 

Conservative Judaism Weekend
              Our last closed weekend, we had a Conservative Judaism seminar weekend. We had a bunch of speakers come and speak to us. Jules Gutin came and spoke to us. It was nice to see a USY person because most of the Nativers are former USY'ers. Surprisingly many people were more into it than i thought, including myself. The Speeches were actually interesting because we got to see many different perspectives on what people think Conservative Judaism is. We also had a bonding group day. We went to some nature park and herded sheep, did like ropes coarse kind of activities, and made zatar and pita. I felt like I was back at camp.

Making zatar to go on top of our freshly made pita!

             There were many things I agreed with...and a few things I strongly didn't agree with...and a few things times i just had no idea what they were talking about during the speeches. Overall it was a great weekend....but what made it even better was....
         

Me and cousin Adrian

  I GOT TO SEE MY COUSINS! I had to get special permission, but Yossi finally agreed to let me see my cousins from England on Friday night. Cousin Adrian and Jackie were in J-town visiting some friends and they invited me to go to shabbat dinner with them. The food was amazing...but the company was even better. There were so many diverse people there. There was a woman from Ireland, a couple and their son from Ethiopia who worked for the UN, a man from Amsterdam and people from England. The amount of accents that were in this one beautiful apartment was crazy! It was so interesting to hear the topics that they were all discussing. I am so glad that I got to see them and hopefully i can see them again WHEN I COME TO ENGLAND DURING MY BREAK!!!
p.s I am going to England during my break for a few days and seeing my family there and all my British camp friends...I AM SO EXCITED...See you soon!!!


Erev Nativ Trivia Night!
           Every Tuesday we have a mandatory activity called erev nativ. It usually is with our individual groups. This week was especially fun! During school, we all are sitting in Ulpan and suddenly everyones phones vibrates...you know that that means...we all look around and start to laugh. It means we all got a mass text. That is how our staff usually gets in-touch with us and lets us know what is going on.
          Adir sent us a text saying "get into costume with your roommates and be down in -3 at 7:30. It is a roommate competition". We were all so excited and immediately started thinking about what costumes we could dress up as.

The ROOMIES: Debra, Me, and Robyn

           My roommates and i decided to be Charlies Angles. There were some other really awesome costumes. One room did Kiss and another room (the room that ended up wining) were dressed up as grapes. When we get down to -3 we realise that it is a trivia game. Everyone got really into it but the questions were the most random things i have ever been asked. I only knew a few answers but most of them no one had any idea...it was funny to hear the random silly answers people gave.
           It was nice to have some bonding time with our individual track and i cant wait for next weeks erev nativ!

Me and Ari (629 for Life!)



Me and Aimee Kanter (one of the grapes)





*MOMMY- I got ur package! thanks so much!

OH AND ANOTHER THING VERY IMPORTANT!- We were at a new bar last night called Mikes. It is like a sports bar with live music. I look down at the menu just to see what kind of stuff they have there and what do I see??? TEX-MEX!! my life is now complete...thanks Israel!


I cant wait to see what kind of craziness will happen in the weeks to come...I LOVE NATIV! We have a closed weekend coming up and we are being hosted as a group in Maalot!