This past week was orientation week with the rest of my program and the other international MA students studying at Tel Aviv University this year. On Monday was the introduction to our program. There are about 17 students in my program, and I love them all so much already. We've already become a really tight-knit group, it's great. I know that I'm making friends that will last for a really long time! :) Anyways, on Monday the archaeology faculty and the Israeli archaeology graduate students welcomed us to the program with snacks and champagne. It was pretty exciting to meet some of the professors who I'm going to get the opportunity to learn from, since I read a lot of their work in undergrad in various classes and for some papers, and I'm really looking forward to learning from them!
On Tuesday was a full day of lectures with the other international MA students. That morning we had a lecture about the city of Tel Aviv, which took the entire morning and then several lectures on things such as our health insurance through the university and academic writing. It was a really long day. That evening was a party at a bar down by the beach that TAU threw for the international students. One of my friends Lianne has been living near Tel Aviv for a while, so we headed down a few hours early to see the port and markets. She usually drives there apparently, but since we were walking it was a bit of a different route, and we almost wandered onto a military base on accident, oops. Of course when we explained what we were doing, "port" as in a water port is the same word as airport in Hebrew, so the guard was really confused about what we were trying to do. We never really did make it to see the port yet, because then we had to leave for our party, but hopefully our next attempt will be more successful.
On Wednesday, we had our Hebrew placement test first in the morning, and then our archaeology group toured and learned about the archaeology wing of TAU. The resources here are pretty impressive. There's an archaeology library, a pottery restoration room, mineralogy lab, photography lab, a room for sketching artifacts, and of course several exhibits about the digs associated with TAU. On Wednesday night, they had a party for our program at another bar in downtown Tel Aviv.
This morning, we had a tour by one of the PhD archaeology students of Tel Aviv, which was really neat. Since he's lived here so long, he was able to point out some good sites that wouldn't have been included in a regular tour such as where the best falafel is and the cheapest place to go for a beer in the city. During this tour, I actually took a few pictures of Tel Aviv. I've been so bad at taking pictures of the city to show you all, because I've got it into my head that I live here now and don't want to look like a total tourist. Anyway, it was neat to walk all around the city, because while I've done a lot of exploring since I've been here, it was great to have someone who actually knows Tel Aviv to show us around. Israelis are so much friendlier than Americans.
I'm also kind of good at taking the bus now. Well not really good, but I am not completely inept like I was earlier in the week. I consider this quite an accomplishment since I've taken the bus like 5 times total even in America. My Hebrew is also getting a bit better I think, and Lianne has taught us some new useful phrases as well. Tomorrow I have to go to the market in the morning before everything closes for the start of shabbat to grocery shop since the contents of our fridge right now consists pretty much hummus and olives. I also need to read for my classes which start on Sunday. It's difficult to get back into the academic mindset of being a student once again. I also got my Israeli phone, and it reminds me of the cell phones from perhaps the early 2000s. Like there's not a keyboard, and it has T9. I can now text in both English and Hebrew, which is sababa.
In other news, tomorrow I'm going with my friend Rachel to shabbat dinner at her cousin's! Super excited! I've never been (obviously because I'm not Jewish), but I'm really looking forward to seeing how the day is observed.
Also if anyone wants to skype soon, I'm pretty much always on gchat or facebook while I'm at my computer these days, so we definitely should! It's been great to talk to my mom over skype and to my best friends from homelike Breanna and Sonia the past few days! :) Until next time, shalom and lilah tov!
On Tuesday was a full day of lectures with the other international MA students. That morning we had a lecture about the city of Tel Aviv, which took the entire morning and then several lectures on things such as our health insurance through the university and academic writing. It was a really long day. That evening was a party at a bar down by the beach that TAU threw for the international students. One of my friends Lianne has been living near Tel Aviv for a while, so we headed down a few hours early to see the port and markets. She usually drives there apparently, but since we were walking it was a bit of a different route, and we almost wandered onto a military base on accident, oops. Of course when we explained what we were doing, "port" as in a water port is the same word as airport in Hebrew, so the guard was really confused about what we were trying to do. We never really did make it to see the port yet, because then we had to leave for our party, but hopefully our next attempt will be more successful.
On Wednesday, we had our Hebrew placement test first in the morning, and then our archaeology group toured and learned about the archaeology wing of TAU. The resources here are pretty impressive. There's an archaeology library, a pottery restoration room, mineralogy lab, photography lab, a room for sketching artifacts, and of course several exhibits about the digs associated with TAU. On Wednesday night, they had a party for our program at another bar in downtown Tel Aviv.
This morning, we had a tour by one of the PhD archaeology students of Tel Aviv, which was really neat. Since he's lived here so long, he was able to point out some good sites that wouldn't have been included in a regular tour such as where the best falafel is and the cheapest place to go for a beer in the city. During this tour, I actually took a few pictures of Tel Aviv. I've been so bad at taking pictures of the city to show you all, because I've got it into my head that I live here now and don't want to look like a total tourist. Anyway, it was neat to walk all around the city, because while I've done a lot of exploring since I've been here, it was great to have someone who actually knows Tel Aviv to show us around. Israelis are so much friendlier than Americans.
The White House of Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion:
The sea:
Looking south toward Jaffa:
I think this is like the first city hall building, but I can't remember for sure:
In other news, tomorrow I'm going with my friend Rachel to shabbat dinner at her cousin's! Super excited! I've never been (obviously because I'm not Jewish), but I'm really looking forward to seeing how the day is observed.
Also if anyone wants to skype soon, I'm pretty much always on gchat or facebook while I'm at my computer these days, so we definitely should! It's been great to talk to my mom over skype and to my best friends from homelike Breanna and Sonia the past few days! :) Until next time, shalom and lilah tov!
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