New Room

Okay, it's time for another update. It's been a weird first week. Things have been getting easier -- I've met some friends, seen new parts of the city, and started class. My class is pretty good, but not amazing. A lot of what we're doing now is review for me, which is actually sort of a good thing because I've forgotten a lot since I first learned it. I have to say that I'd hoped I would be more impressed with the class and with the organization/structure of the program in general, but what can you do.

The main thing, though, is that I just switched dorm rooms today (literally about half an hour ago). I'm not sure how many people I've told already, but my first room was not good at all. The dorms are apartment style here, and I was placed in an apartment with six single rooms (each with a bathroom) and a shared kitchen/common space. My actual room in the first apartment was fine; it was pretty clean and I could sometimes get slow internet from my desk (there's none at all in my new room -- I'm sitting on the bed typing this up, but I'll need to go somewhere else to post it). But the apartment itself was pretty awful. The kitchen was extremely dirty and barely usable (I never wanted to spend more than ten seconds in there; I would just stick my food in the fridge and leave, and I never even thought about cooking anything there). The chairs were all broken, the fridge was packed full of food that smelled rather suspect, and everything looked disgusting and grimy. I wasn't the only one who didn't want to spend any time there; no one was ever in the common area. And because of that I barely even met anyone I was living with. It was almost like I was living alone in the apartment, because I never saw anyone there. The regular university students are still here taking exams, and there were three of them in that apartment along with two other Ulpan students. I assume that the three Israeli students have been living there for a while -- I don't know how they can stand living in a place like that for more than a few weeks. I was only there for four nights.

Anyway, I tried repeatedly to get moved to a different room. It was a bit of a disaster actually; I kept being told that if I wanted to move I would have to find myself an empty room to move into because there were no lists or anything. It was pretty ridiculous. But today I was able to move into a new room in an apartment with two other Ulpan students (and I think three Israelis), where the kitchen is clean and usable and people actually talk to each other. And I now have a view of the city out my window! I met a few of the other girls who live here but don't remember their names. I'm interested to see what the dynamic of the place is. I guess I'll find out.

So that's basically what's been going on. The program is pretty tiring and time consuming. We have four hours of class every morning, plus homework and activities and trips. Yesterday we were supposed to go on a hike, but we waited for an hour and the bus we needed never came, so they took us to the market instead. I bought some oranges and warm pita. On the way back we rode the Carmelit for part of the way. It's the only subway in Israel (and I think the smallest in the world) and goes up the mountain. There's only one track and one train, which just goes back and forth along the six stops. Since the tunnel is slanted, the platforms are tiered, and different parts of the track have steeper or shallower slopes. Best of all though, everything on the train itself is oriented horizontally, so that it all looks slanted in comparison with the slope of the mountain. If you picked up the train and put it on a flat surface, the seats and doors would all be slanted. But on the track, everything is horizontal. Maybe I'll try to take a picture of it sometime.

I'm still thinking that I want to change my plans and come home after one session of Ulpan, instead of staying for two. I didn't have a real reason for signing up for two months -- it was kind of a whim, and mostly I felt that a one-month summer activity wasn't long enough to feel like a legitimate use of my summer. Most students here are only staying for one month, so there's absolutely no shame in doing the same thing. I'm no longer miserable here, although my class isn't quite as good as I had hoped. I'm making friends, I'm seeing interesting things, and I'm now living in a better apartment. But mainly, I want to go home sooner because I would really really love to have more time at home before school starts. So unless I change my mind in the next week, I'll be seeing WMass again sometime in the middle of August. In the meantime I'll try to make the most of being here. Tomorrow I'm taking the train down to Tel Aviv to go back to Mevasseret for the weekend, where I'll get to meet Anat and Avigail, and see Lois and Hillel again. And on Tuesday afternoon there's an Ulpan trip to Nazareth, which should be neat.

I think I'll go try to find some internet so I can post this. I miss everyone at home a lot! And I can't wait to be back there with you.