Tel Aviv

I did not take this picture.

Here I am, in Tel Aviv! Well actually, I'm currently in Nordia, a small town about 30 minutes north of Tel Aviv, close to Netanya. Today is Wednesday and I've been here since Friday afternoon, and I'm having an amazing time. It was 70 degrees and sunny when I arrived on Friday, although since then it's been rainy and a bit cooler. The 'raelis say that's how winter is here, and it'll be rainy for a few days about once a month, and then warm up again. Because I didn't have anywhere to stay when I arrived, I have been staying with my friend Itay in his house with his family in Nordia. He and his family have been sooo hospitable and generous, and really made me feel completely comfortable here. As my cousin Josh says, Israelis are the most hospitable people ever--after meeting someone, you are so comfortable with them, and you're just like another family member to them. Since I've been here, I have had: Burger's Bar, Aroma, Shwarma, Falafel, Schnitzel (3 times) and a lot of Hummus. Doing great so far. The food here is SO much better than in Spain..what a nice relief. On Friday when I got here, Itay and I went to Shabbat dinner at his friend's house, who lives right next to Rabin square in a beautiful apartment. He is Italian, and cooked us an amaaazing meal (I know, I talk about food a lot). In addition to me and Itay (an Israeli) there were three Italians, one Swiss girl, one German, and one French guy. After that and a few more times I went out with Itay and his freinds in Tel Aviv...so fun, meeting a lot of cool people from all over the world! Also I'm improving my Hebrew by talking to his Israeli friends. It was really hard at first, and still, to switch so suddenly from Hebrew to Spanish. I hope I don't forget my Spanish. Today, we had orientation for school and a Hebrew test to place us in levels for our Ulpan class, an intensive Hebrew course that we will take for the first four weeks before our other classes. Orientation was a little overwhelming. I don't really have the energy to go through meeting a million people again, and I don't feel the same "I am finally in a foreign country for the first time, no parents around, let's party like it's 1999, etc." as everyone else, because being abroad is already a regular thing to me by now. Also, IES had 70 students and there are 230 on this program at Tel Aviv University. That's a lot of Americans to meet at once. I've been pretty calm about it though because knowing from experience, the people you go out with the first few days don't end up being your good friends throughout the program. I'll end up meeting the people who I really enjoy spending time with when the time is right..no need to force any friendships or huge drunken groups of Americans together in order to enjoy the first week on the program. After some speeches from the director of the program and the counselors, we took a Hebrew exam to place us in levels for our Ulpan. Ulpan is a very cool program that these international Hebrew universities provide--it's an intensive Hebrew course for the first four weeks of the program, before any other classes. I hope I'm in a high enough level that it's challenging to me and that I'll learn a lot, but not too high that I can't enjoy every second of my first month in Tel Aviv. After the test, I took a bus from Ramat Aviv (where the university is, about 20 minutes north of the center) down to the center of Tel Aviv with some friends. We found an awesome schwarma/falafel place on Hamelech George, right near Dizengoff Center. Afterwards, we walked a few blocks west and guess where we ended up? Walking on the Tayelet along the Mediterranean Sea, no big deal. After some rain this morning, we were so glad to be walking around in t-shirts on the beach in 65 degree sunny weather. What a beautiful city.