I'm so behind on updating, but it's been an awesome month! After I got back from Istanbul I had two great weeks in Tel Aviv. I saw the Vagina Monologues which I loved of course--the best part was the Orthodox women that performed, it was a very cool contrast and representative of Israel I think.
I also traveled to Jaffa, which is the oldest part of Tel Aviv. It's absolutely beautiful, it's right on the beach and you get a great view of Tel Aviv. There's so much history, both from thousands of years ago and from the beginning of the state of Israel... it's so interesting to see all the different layers, like how there are ruins from 2000 BC but that some of those ruins have been damaged from fighting between Jews and Palestinians in the 40s. Some of the history (like with all of Israel) is obviously pretty bleak, but it's so interesting to see. Hands down my favorite part of Jaffa is the artist's quarter, where you can wander into galleries of both famous and obscure Israeli artists. It's so cool.
I'm currently in the middle of my two week long spring break. I spent last week in the Netherlands and had so much fun. I stayed with my friend Bunny from school--it was so fun seeing her, but also a little weird. I had gotten used to being away from my friends from the US and meeting up with her in another country was bizarre. She's studying abroad in Leiden which is a city outside of Amsterdam. Everything is hundreds of years old and so beautiful... canals run through the city (as well as in Amsterdam) and it all felt so European. It was a huge change from Israel! We spent some time in Amsterdam,which is definitely a unique city. We went to the Anne Frank house and Van Gogh museum, they were both very interesting... the Van Gogh museum was just amazing. Bunny also showed me around Leiden and we went to see the tulip fields at Den Hagg. They were absolutely beautiful, unfortunately my camera died so I couldn't take any pictures. It was a great vacation.
When we got back to Tel Aviv the weather was PERFECT, so instead of doing educational traveling like I planned, I spent the last three days on the beach. I definitely can't complain, it's been so nice. I have a few things planned for the rest of the week, so there will be some more updates soon. And maybe one day I'll write about my classes... but probably not. :)
As always: pictures!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
"You are 100% Turkish!"
I'm back from my trip to Istanbul! We had four full days there which was absolutely perfect--we got to see and do everything that we wanted without being rushed, but it was long enough that we were all ecstatic when we finally got back to Israel.
I put up tons of pictures--I needed two flickr accounts for all of them. So the first group of pictures is here and the second set is here.
The first day we were there we spent the day exploring Taksim Square, which is sort of like the metropolitan downtown of Istanbul, and we went shopping at the Grand Bazaar. Everywhere we went the vendors would talk to us and try to make us buy things. They were all convinced I was Turkish and thought Jen and Mel were Spanish which was pretty funny. The vendors are really pushy... literally everywhere we walked there was someone trying to get us to go to their restaurant or into their store. It got pretty exhausting after a while, especially because I made the mistake of looking at and answering them way too many times.
The next day we did some of the big sightseeing... the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Basilica Cistern. The Hagia Sophia was really interesting because it had the elements of both a church and a mosque, but I was more impressed by the other two. First of all the outside of the Blue Mosque is just amazing. Every time we walked past it (which was several times a day) it was just flooring... it's so huge and beautiful and they definitely don't have anything like that in America, or even Israel. The inside of the Blue Mosque was so ornate and beautiful, I tried taking pictures but they really don't do it justice. Also the Basilica Cistern was AWESOME. It's this huge underground water source with hundreds of pillars holding it up. It was so cool and mystical and seriously huge.
That night we went out in Taksim Square, which is a really cool, fun area at night. There are sidestreets with dozens of bars and clubs to go to. We ended up in a small cafe listening to two Turkish guys play the guitar. It was really cool--we were the only tourists there and the music was really great.
The next day we took a tour of the Bosphorous Sea on a ferry, which was pretty cool. It was raining so we had to stay inside but the views were great. Even though I didn't visit a large part of Istanbul, I got to see the coasts. The best part was that we were literally just floating in between two continents. That night some of us went to a "Turkish Mystic Dance show," which we renamed the "Steal My Money Show." It was literally the most boring hour of the entire trip, and quite possibly my whole life. We were totally scammed--I guess that's what we get for being dumb tourists haha.
On our last day we went to the Topkapi Palace, which was huge and awesome. It was the sultan's palace in the Ottoman Empire and it was filled with relics from that time--clothing, jewelry, and more shiny jewels than you can imagine. It was really cool... and let me tell you, being a sultan would be pretty nice. The palace was beautiful.
That night we treated ourselves to a nice restaurant, which was amazing after the last two months of eating nothing but pita and hummus (not that I don't love pita and hummus). The restaurant was called Istanbul 360 and the walls were glass, giving you a 360 degree view of Istanbul. My pictures came out really blurry, but we got a really great view of the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. The food wasn't Turkish, but I didn't really mind... I love eating different foods but there was nothing in the Turkish food I tried that was all that exciting. It wasn't quite Middle Eastern, and it also wasn't Asian, it was just a lot of sort-of-spiced meat and a LOT of bread. But then again, most of my meals cost about $7 so I'm not the best judge.
Overall the trip was amazing. It was really cool to experience another country (although by now I'm used to not being able to understand what people are saying), and Istanbul was way cooler than I expected. I was prepared for a dirty, kind of scary place, but the downtown area was modern and metropolitan, and the area of our hostel was really historical and beautiful.
Merhaba!
I put up tons of pictures--I needed two flickr accounts for all of them. So the first group of pictures is here and the second set is here.
The first day we were there we spent the day exploring Taksim Square, which is sort of like the metropolitan downtown of Istanbul, and we went shopping at the Grand Bazaar. Everywhere we went the vendors would talk to us and try to make us buy things. They were all convinced I was Turkish and thought Jen and Mel were Spanish which was pretty funny. The vendors are really pushy... literally everywhere we walked there was someone trying to get us to go to their restaurant or into their store. It got pretty exhausting after a while, especially because I made the mistake of looking at and answering them way too many times.
The next day we did some of the big sightseeing... the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Basilica Cistern. The Hagia Sophia was really interesting because it had the elements of both a church and a mosque, but I was more impressed by the other two. First of all the outside of the Blue Mosque is just amazing. Every time we walked past it (which was several times a day) it was just flooring... it's so huge and beautiful and they definitely don't have anything like that in America, or even Israel. The inside of the Blue Mosque was so ornate and beautiful, I tried taking pictures but they really don't do it justice. Also the Basilica Cistern was AWESOME. It's this huge underground water source with hundreds of pillars holding it up. It was so cool and mystical and seriously huge.
That night we went out in Taksim Square, which is a really cool, fun area at night. There are sidestreets with dozens of bars and clubs to go to. We ended up in a small cafe listening to two Turkish guys play the guitar. It was really cool--we were the only tourists there and the music was really great.
The next day we took a tour of the Bosphorous Sea on a ferry, which was pretty cool. It was raining so we had to stay inside but the views were great. Even though I didn't visit a large part of Istanbul, I got to see the coasts. The best part was that we were literally just floating in between two continents. That night some of us went to a "Turkish Mystic Dance show," which we renamed the "Steal My Money Show." It was literally the most boring hour of the entire trip, and quite possibly my whole life. We were totally scammed--I guess that's what we get for being dumb tourists haha.
On our last day we went to the Topkapi Palace, which was huge and awesome. It was the sultan's palace in the Ottoman Empire and it was filled with relics from that time--clothing, jewelry, and more shiny jewels than you can imagine. It was really cool... and let me tell you, being a sultan would be pretty nice. The palace was beautiful.
That night we treated ourselves to a nice restaurant, which was amazing after the last two months of eating nothing but pita and hummus (not that I don't love pita and hummus). The restaurant was called Istanbul 360 and the walls were glass, giving you a 360 degree view of Istanbul. My pictures came out really blurry, but we got a really great view of the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. The food wasn't Turkish, but I didn't really mind... I love eating different foods but there was nothing in the Turkish food I tried that was all that exciting. It wasn't quite Middle Eastern, and it also wasn't Asian, it was just a lot of sort-of-spiced meat and a LOT of bread. But then again, most of my meals cost about $7 so I'm not the best judge.
Overall the trip was amazing. It was really cool to experience another country (although by now I'm used to not being able to understand what people are saying), and Istanbul was way cooler than I expected. I was prepared for a dirty, kind of scary place, but the downtown area was modern and metropolitan, and the area of our hostel was really historical and beautiful.
Merhaba!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
A crazy week that's just beginning...
A quick update before the whirlwind of the next few days begins:
This weekend my program took us on a trip to the Negev desert in the south. We hiked all three days, which was both fun and really painful, but we saw some amazing things. On Friday we went to the Makhtesh Ramon, it's a huge crater in Israel. I've actually done the hike before (it was hands down the worst part of my Birthright trip--when I saw the mountain in front of us I was sooo mad that I had to do the hike again) but it was better this time. The hike on Saturday was much harder but I also thought it was a lot better. It was hard because it lasted over 4 hours, it was really hot out and the last part was allll uphill. But it was really beautiful--there was nothing manmade around us at all, just mountains and desert. I have a ton of pictures that will be able to express that better than any description can, I'm going to put them all up next week.
We also went to an alpaca farm and to the Dead Sea! The alpacas were really fun, and the Dead Sea was of course amazing, but so sad because it's completely drying up. My friends that were last here 3 years ago noticed the difference, and you can see that there used to be so much more water on the shore. Just another thing to add to the list of Israel's problems haha.
Anyway, today is Purim, which I've been describing to everyone as Jewish Halloween. But Halloween cannot match Purim in Israel. Last night we all got dressed up and went to Florentine St. in downtown Tel Aviv. It was one of the craziest experiences ever. The street was packed, you could barely move and everyone was dressed up in ridiculous costumes. We had so much fun just wandering, talking to people, and running into pretty much every study abroad student from Tel Aviv University. Tonight we're going to Jerusalem, which should be an experience as well!
And here's the big one--after all this, I'm leaving for Istanbul tomorrow night! It's definitely going to be an adventure, and I'm sure I'll have a lot to post when I get back. :)
This weekend my program took us on a trip to the Negev desert in the south. We hiked all three days, which was both fun and really painful, but we saw some amazing things. On Friday we went to the Makhtesh Ramon, it's a huge crater in Israel. I've actually done the hike before (it was hands down the worst part of my Birthright trip--when I saw the mountain in front of us I was sooo mad that I had to do the hike again) but it was better this time. The hike on Saturday was much harder but I also thought it was a lot better. It was hard because it lasted over 4 hours, it was really hot out and the last part was allll uphill. But it was really beautiful--there was nothing manmade around us at all, just mountains and desert. I have a ton of pictures that will be able to express that better than any description can, I'm going to put them all up next week.
We also went to an alpaca farm and to the Dead Sea! The alpacas were really fun, and the Dead Sea was of course amazing, but so sad because it's completely drying up. My friends that were last here 3 years ago noticed the difference, and you can see that there used to be so much more water on the shore. Just another thing to add to the list of Israel's problems haha.
Anyway, today is Purim, which I've been describing to everyone as Jewish Halloween. But Halloween cannot match Purim in Israel. Last night we all got dressed up and went to Florentine St. in downtown Tel Aviv. It was one of the craziest experiences ever. The street was packed, you could barely move and everyone was dressed up in ridiculous costumes. We had so much fun just wandering, talking to people, and running into pretty much every study abroad student from Tel Aviv University. Tonight we're going to Jerusalem, which should be an experience as well!
And here's the big one--after all this, I'm leaving for Istanbul tomorrow night! It's definitely going to be an adventure, and I'm sure I'll have a lot to post when I get back. :)
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Classes have finally started. It feels like I've been on vacation for the past month--it's weird to have responsibilities.
All of my classes seem like they'll be really interesting. I'm taking Hebrew, Intro to the Religion of Islam, The Roots of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Israel and the Environment, and Modern Jewish History. Most of the teachers are Americans that have moved to Israel, so it seems like it will be a pretty American experience overall. I feel mixed about this... on the one hand the classes are easy and fun which is nice, but I'm definitely not experiencing Israeli education. But now that classes have started, both for the international students and the regular university, the campus has really come to life. I love walking through a busy campus--it makes it feel more real.
This past weekend I went to Eilat with a bunch of friends and about 50 other people from my program. Unfortunately it was a little too cold to spend the whole weekend on the beach (and by "cold" I mean 65 degrees) but we went snorkeling in the Red Sea which was AMAZING. We saw the coolest coral and fish and we swam out to a huuuuge coral reef, it was so much fun.
I put some pictures on my flickr account from Jerusalem and Eilat: click here! I have some really exciting trips coming up. This weekend I'm going to the south with my program; we're going to the Dead Sea, Ein Gedi for hiking, and a bedouin tent. And the weekend after that I'm going to Istanbul!! It should be an adventure, I can't wait.
All of my classes seem like they'll be really interesting. I'm taking Hebrew, Intro to the Religion of Islam, The Roots of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Israel and the Environment, and Modern Jewish History. Most of the teachers are Americans that have moved to Israel, so it seems like it will be a pretty American experience overall. I feel mixed about this... on the one hand the classes are easy and fun which is nice, but I'm definitely not experiencing Israeli education. But now that classes have started, both for the international students and the regular university, the campus has really come to life. I love walking through a busy campus--it makes it feel more real.
This past weekend I went to Eilat with a bunch of friends and about 50 other people from my program. Unfortunately it was a little too cold to spend the whole weekend on the beach (and by "cold" I mean 65 degrees) but we went snorkeling in the Red Sea which was AMAZING. We saw the coolest coral and fish and we swam out to a huuuuge coral reef, it was so much fun.
I put some pictures on my flickr account from Jerusalem and Eilat: click here! I have some really exciting trips coming up. This weekend I'm going to the south with my program; we're going to the Dead Sea, Ein Gedi for hiking, and a bedouin tent. And the weekend after that I'm going to Istanbul!! It should be an adventure, I can't wait.
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