Laundry Day

Okay so this post isn't going to be nearly as exciting as my last post. I do my laundry about every two weeks. The laundry facilities in the Student Village are only in Building 2 which is the family building. As in most colleges people mainly do laundry on the weekends. So if you have time you can do yours quickly during the week and you won't have to wait for an open machine. Friday is the busiest day for the laundry room. Observant Jews keep the Sabbath (Shabbat) meaning they don't do any work on Saturday. There is always a rush of people trying to get laundry done before sunset on Friday which is when the Sabbath officially begins. I try to be respectful of the fact that they can't do laundry on Saturday so that is when I choose to do my laundry. If you can get up early to do laundry I recommend it. I like getting laundry done before most people are awake. So I usually start my laundry sometime between 7am and 8am. If you wait there are sometimes creepy guys in the laundry room that stand there and watch you put your clothes in the machine but they don't say anything to you.

As you can see each washing machine has a number on it. The laundry room only has the smaller European washers. Sometime in the middle of the Spring semester they got rid of the few American sized washing machines. I miss the American sized ones. These machines can take either powdered soap or liquid.

This is how you pay. One load in the washing machine is 10 NIS or about $2.50. One load in the dryer is 9NIS. Put your clothes in the machine first add soap. Then put your money in and select the number of the machine then go back to the machine select what type of load and push to start. This machine is sometimes picky. Sometimes it doesn't want to take bills no matter how straight you make them. Other times it will only take bills. Sometimes it will reject some coins and take others. I've noticed this with the ten shekel coins. If the coin is new sometimes the machine will spit it out a few times before taking it or it will only take the less shiny coins. I have no idea why. Occasionally it will eat one shekel coins and not count it and no amount of pressing coin return will help.

The wall of dryers. Note the colorful banner on top with the machine logo. They added this banner during the Spring semester for some reason.  I should mention that this is the only laundry room in the Student Village which is quite remarkable if you consider how many people live here. There are twelve buildings total. Two of the buildings 11 and 12 have multiple sections 11A,11B,11C. I think on average each building has 6 floors. Each floor has at least three apartments. The Graduate buildings have three rooms in each apartment. The Undergrad dorms have five rooms in each apartment. Then you have to consider the family dorms with multiple children in each family. Just keep this in mind when you are trying to decide when to do your laundry. At Texas A&M there was a laundry room on each floor of the dorm.

And now for a little bit on food. This is Shakshouka. I like to make this on the weekends. I cheat though I use the sauce from a can. I think I'm the only one that buys this sauce from the store because the shelf area is always full each time I go to buy a can. I think this is because this dish is usually made by Grandma and it's insulting to use the can. That is just a guess however.

I've made French toast a few times this Summer as a treat. And that is about the only real cooking I've been doing except for making Spaghetti but I don't really count that.

Study Abroad: The Flight Over

 You can take the group flight that the school puts together but I decided not to. I wanted to get here a week earlier so I could adjust to the time difference and get settled in before having to start classes. You can’t check into the dorms until two days before the semester starts however but there is a nice hotel across the street from the student village and there are several good hostels in town. When booking your flight make sure you won’t be arriving in Israel on a Friday or Saturday because it will be harder to get around on those days.

I prefer getting an aisle seat so I can get up and walk around whenever I want to. The window seat might be nice but it loses its value if you need to get up and the two people blocking you from the aisle are sleeping. For carry ons I have a rolling laptop bag. It has a convenient slot to put the laptop in that allows for easier access to it at security checkpoints. I found it easier to navigate the airports because it rolls saving your back. I put this bag in the over head compartment.  You are also allow a personal item for me this was a shoulder bag used as a purse it was small but I put the things I might actually need to access during the flight in there. It was small enough that it allowed me to use the space underneath the chair in front of me to stretch my legs in.

I definitely recommend you take a neck pillow one of those horse shoe shaped ones. They will help you sleep on the plane by keeping your head from bouncing around so much. I have one that has a blanket inside the case, then it has a beach ball liner that inflates for your pillow. Added to an eye shade and set of earplugs I was able to sleep without giving myself neck cramps.  Wear your heaviest pair of shoes on the plane this will save you a little bit of weight in your luggage. You might also invest in a pair of airline socks. Airline socks help stimulate the circulation in your legs which reduces swelling and soreness of the ankles during the flight. These socks are actually designed for people with poor circulation in their legs. You can buy them at Walgreens and CVS.

Make sure you have your acceptance letter and other important documents in your carry on for easy access. I like to have a small pill case with Tylenol (for headaches caused by screaming babies), Dramamine(for motion sickness), and Benadryl (to put me to sleep) Take the Sheruit from the airport to the school.

Study Abroad: What to Pack

I didn't get this post up in time to help the first Summer session students but hopefully this will help the next group of incoming students. Rothberg International School does list items it recommends you bring on its website here. Much of this post is just going to be my commentary on their list with a few additional items I think should be added. First thing to mention dress is very casual here. Even for the graduate students you can wear jeans and t-shirt to class. That was a suprise to me when I was getting ready to come to Israel. I know if I was attending grad school in the states I would likely have to dress up.

Clothing:

• Shoes- I brought a pair of hiking shoes, a pair of winter boots,two pairs of sandals, and a pair of slippers.
• Coats- I brought my winter coat,a rain jacket and several cardigans. Even if you are just coming for the summer bring a cardigan or two. It can get rather chilly at night. Sometimes you need a cardigan to study in the library if the air conditioning is on.
• Umbrella- If you are just studying for the summer you likely won't need this. Winter is the rainy season here.
• You need sunglasses and a hat. These are must haves for Israel during the summer.

Books: Note that this is for students in the MA program The Bible and the Ancient Near East

• Brown Driver Briggs(BDB) Dictionary-Even if you have it on your computer you still need a physical copy. Some professors will let you use the dictionary on a test but they won't let you use the computer version.
• Gesenius Hebrew Grammar- Several of the professors use this in their course. It's also just a good reference to have. This one can be on your computer. I've never had a professor let me use this on a test.
• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia(BHS)- This is the main Hebrew text the professors use here. You need a physical copy of this book as you will be allow to use an unmarked copy on some tests. 
• Modern Hebrew/English Dictionary- This helps with the Modern Hebrew requirement. There are some decent dictionaries available on your ipod as well.
• English pocket Bible-You need a clean unmarked English Bible. You are allowed to use an English Bible on the archaeology exams. You can substitute a pocket Jewish Publication Society copy but you will still need to bring the BHS. In one of my archaeology classes I actually needed to quote from the New Testament so you might want to consider having a copy of that as well.
• An Israel travel guide is also helpful. I have one titled Let's Go Israel which has been helpful so far. 

School Supplies: You can buy most of your school supplies here.

• If you want a day planner in English bring one. The only ones they sell here are in Hebrew.
• They do not sell regular folders here. If you want regular folders bring them with you.
• Binders here only have two rings instead of three. Just in case that would bother you. :)

Bedding and Towels: You can buy this stuff here

• Wash cloths can be hard to find so you might want to bring one
• I brought a sleeping bag to use as my comforter. It packs small and doesn't weigh much.

Electric converters/adapters: The current here is 220 volts, 50 cycles. I bought my converter and adapters at home. You can buy two prong adapters fairly easily here. However the three prong adapters that you need for most computers are hard to find here.

Computers: If you need a new computer buy it before you get to Israel. If you buy it here you will have to pay tax on it. If you have a new computer shipped here you will have to pay tax on it. I definately recommend bringing a computer with you. There is free wireless internet in the Boyar building. You might want to look into how you could get your computer repaired if something goes wrong with it in Israel. Bring your warranty information with you. I had a problem with my computer last summer and it took quite a while to figure out who I needed to call and what could be done for my computer. My computer model isn't sold here in Israel so the part had to be ordered from Europe which took a long time. If you have a Mac there is only one Apple store in Israel and it is in the mall in Tel Aviv. If you need repairs on your Mac I think they have to send it to Europe. You might want to give your computer a checkup to make sure its okay before you come to Israel.

Medicine:If you take prescription pills bring enough with you for your entire stay. Or you will need to work out a way to get your medicine while you are here. I don't think the pharmacies will honor an American prescription but I don't know for sure. You need to bring a basic supply of over the counter medicine. Over the counter medicine is not sold in the grocery store here. Over the counter meds are sold in the pharmacy.

Random Tips:

• Toiletries are expensive here. However bringing large bottles of shampoo and other products can take up a lot of weigh in your suitcase. I brought sample sizes to use until I could get to the grocery store.
• If you wear make up bring your own. Make up is very expensive here. The brands that you buy in Wal-mart at home are sold in the pharmacy here. The make up sections have representatives from the company that stand in front of the display, they are paid on commission and won't leave you alone to just look. And most of them speak English so saying you don't know Hebrew doesn't work. 
• Sunscreen here smells funny and is more oily feeling you might want to bring some from home. 
• When packing take everything out of the packaging in order to save as much weigh as possible.
• Bring a flashlight. There have been a few times where the power in the apartment went out and I needed one. Also if you plan on visiting Hezekiah's tunnel you will need one.
• Laundry bag- The laundry facities are only in building 2 which for me is across the student village from my building. I've seen some people using their suitcases for the same purpose. Don't leave your suitcase in the laundry room though, it won't be there when you come back.
• Stain stick-In the states I've never really needed one of these, here in Israel I must be a dirt magnet or something. I'm always finding stains on my clothes that I have no idea what they came from or when they happened.
• If you drink coffee you might want to bring a french press and a bag of coffee. You might also be interested to know that they don't really have coffee creamers here. Coffee is usually had after a meal and because of kosher laws if you had meat for your meal you can't have cream in the coffee afterwards.
• Bring a good backpack. I just grabbed a random backpack from my closet and threw it in my suitcase. I didn't realize the backpack I grabbed was from middle school and the inside lining had deteriorated. I had to get it replaced. I now have a sturdy backpack from L.L. Bean. It has a padded back and shoulder straps. This comes in handy on days when my backpack weighs close to thirty pounds. 

That's all I can think of for now. I hope it was helpful. If you are a new student and have questions feel free to ask them in the comments section. I may come back and edit this post if I think of anything else.

Study Abroad: Choosing Luggage

This post continues my series to help students get ready to study abroad. Here I focus on luggage in a future post I'll detail more about what to actually pack in your luggage.

 

Chances are you have several pieces of luggage you can use but they may not fit current airline regulations. Check your airlines website well in advance for measurement restrictions and weight guidelines. Most airlines you can have two bags that each weigh 50lbs. Check how much your current suitcases weigh when empty then you know how much weigh you actually have to work with. The suitcases my family has were bought before the new airline regulations on average weigh 15lbs when empty! That would only give you 35lbs for the stuff you want to pack.

If you have the money you want to invest in a good set of luggage that weighs as little as possible. In my research I found Eagle Creek's hovercraft line to weigh the least. I’m also a neat freak when it comes to organization on a trip so Eagle Creek’s pack it system of zippered cubes, and folding squares worked well for me. I also found out Eagle creek makes compression sacs like space saver bags only you don’t need the vacuum to use them. These saved me some space. They are great for items that are full of air. For example I compressed a twin size pillow as flat as a pancake, once you open the bag it puffs right up with no damage. 

Use unique luggage tags to help you quickly identify your bags on the luggage carousel my luggage has Texas A&M tags because it’s not likely anyone in Israel will have that kind of tag. I also recommend purchasing luggage locks make sure it says travel sentry somewhere on them. Mine are also Eagle Creek they are three number combination locks you set the combination and can change the combination whenever you want to. They have a key hole that airport security has the key to so they can search your bag relock it and no one else can get into it. It can also be good for locking up valuables in your dorm after you arrive if you need to. 

The wardrobe in the room is very small that’s where your compression sacs can come in handy. You can store off season clothes in the compression bags where they will be protected from dusts and moisture and slide them under the bed. Note that the beds may not have enough room under them to store your luggage. My suitcases are different sizes from the hovercraft line so I can store them one inside the other to take up less floor space.  I started to pack my luggage a week before I had to leave. This is so I could pack and weigh each suitcase multiple times to make sure I didn’t go over the weight requirements.

     

  Even if you are not going to study abroad this can be a fun philosophical exercise and you can learn more about yourself. Pretend you are going to live in another country for at least a year. You can only take 100lbs of stuff. At least 50lbs will be devoted to clothing and shoes. What would you use the other 50lbs for? For me personally most of my other 50lbs went to books.  I did get a kindle so I could have more books with me but some of my scholarly books are not yet available for the kindle. Some of the books just wouldn’t be the same on kindle, my Life Applications Study Bible for example I have made notes in the margins of it and I would miss It too much if I had to leave it behind. You can tell I’m a bible scholar though because there were two other translations of the bible I have that I wanted to bring with me but couldn’t.

Renewing Your Student Visa

In my post titled Preparing to go to Israel I gave a brief overview on how to obtain a student visa before you come to Israel. The student visa you get in the States will be good for one year and then you will have to renew it. I just renewed my visa this past Thursday.


About a month before your visa expires you need to go to the Ministry of the Interior and make an appointment. They do have a phone number but you will get an appointment faster if you go in person. Your appointment will typically be one  week before you visa expires. If for some reason they give you an appointment that is after the date your visa expires you will need to carry the appointment slip and your passport with you at all times.

To get your visa renewed you will need the following items: your passport, a passport photo,money for the visa(bring exact change),your transcripts,letter from the Vice Provost, your financial report from school,your rental agreement, and proof you can support yourself financially. I did not give the price of the visa because it is subject to change. The school told me one price but when I went to get my visa the price had gone up by 20 NIS.  When you make your appointment they assign you to a booth/cubicle number. Each person that runs these booths is different so they might request some or all of the above documents listed.

The visa I received on Thursday is only good until the end of September, then I will have to go and get another visa. I've been told this is because Israel is trying to crack down on foreign workers. Apparently some people get into Israel on a student visa, sign up for classes and then disappear into the country. This is why you have to give them a copy of your transcripts to prove that you have actually been attending classes. At the end of September you will have paid for and registered for fall classes and that will tell them you are a serious student. I'm not sure how long the visa I get in September will last.

I hope this brief overview of renewing your student visa was helpful.

Preparing to go to Israel

I only have a few more weeks left in my Spring sememster. Its getting close to time where prospective students are waiting for their acceptance letters from Rothberg International School. So I'm going to be doing a series of posts to help new students with how to prepare for their study abroad. If you are a prospective student and have a question for me, please feel free to leave a comment to this post. If I don't know the answer to your question I can find someone who does.

Some of your preparations need to start early even before you know if you’ve been accepted or not. For instance check your passport to see if it’s up to date and how many years you have left on it. If you will be studying in the country for more than just a few months you will need to apply for a student visa. In order to get a student visa you have to have at least two years left on your passport.  A passport can take up from 4-6 weeks to process so it's best to start as early as you can especially if you’ve never had a passport because getting the documentation necessary for it can take some time. 

To get a student visa you have to contact your local Israeli consulate. Each consulate serves several states  the one you need may not be in your state. Each consulate requires different documents to issue a visa getting in contact with them early can help. Have all the documents ready but apply for the visa as late as you possibly can they usually take two weeks to process but it varies by consulate. The reason you wait to the last minute is so the visa lasts as long as possible on the other end.  I learned that consulates and embassies have shorter hours than you would expect they are only open from around 9 -3. The Israeli consulate  will not usually answer the phone before 10:15 and stops answering the phones at 12:30. They are closed for Jewish holidays and Saturday for Shabbat. This information on times they answer the phone is about the consulate in Houston, Texas I don't know if it is the same situation for the other consultates.

  The school doesn’t mention vaccines on their website but you might want to consult your primary care physican to see if you are healthy enough for vaccines. There are companies that specialize in travel vaccines there is probably at least one in your area. You tell them where you are going and they do the research to see which shots you need. They will give you a little yellow vaccine card that you need to keep with your passport it is a international accepted medical form that records your vaccines. It's nice to get the vaccines out of the way as soon as possible if you decide to get them. I was left feeling a little under the weather several days after getting the shots.

 Several months before I needed to leave I started a list of all the things I wanted to do, buy , or didn’t want to forget to bring with me.  This helped me stay organized and see what I still needed to have done. I went through the rounds of doctors getting a physical, annual teeth cleaning and got my vision checked. If you wear glasses bring a back up pair with you. I also got my eye doctor to give me a written prescription for my glasses as well just in case something horrible happened to both pairs of lenses. 

Those were some basic tips to get started on for your study abroad. I hope it helped. 

Where I live

This is going to be about where I live. To the left is the view I have walking down the hill to school in the morning. If you look closely to the right of the light pole you can see the Dome of the Rock.











Here is the South Gate as you can see it's a
secure gate. There is a guard there all the time
who checks your id and can check your bag before you enter.









This is the massive staircase I have to walk up and down several times a day. Most of the other students had to carry their luggage up these stairs.

















This is my building 12D also known as Casa Argentina. All the buildings are named after countries.












My room is a special room as I have mentioned before its the sealed room. Basically my room is the bomb shelter in case something happens. My room has two doors the blast door which is white in this picture and a normal door. The blast door is around 1and a half to two inches thick.














I took a picture of the door frame to give you an idea of how thick the walls of my room are. They are made of solid concrete and are about a foot thick. When the window is shut and the door is closed the room is pretty quiet. Except for last night I heard all the screaming and yelling from the people watching Spain vs. Netherlands in the World Cup last night. Even if I had the blast door closed too I still think I would have heard them.











My window is unique as well. When the window is closed it forms a tight seal that also cuts down on the noise level from outside. The glass is thicker than the other windows in the apartment. I don't know if it's bullet proof or not but its pretty thick so it might be.








This picture is with the glass part of the window open. I took
the picture at an angle so you can see the space between the shutters and where the glass would be if the window were closed. The shutters are made out of metal if there is a strong wind they close themselves. While this is annoying when doing homework and suddenly finding yourself in the dark it is designed so if there was a blast outside while my shutters were open the force of the blast would close them for me. With the shutters closed the room is pitch black you can't see anything at all even if it is the middle of the afternoon. This works out great for taking naps but not so great if you are used to relying on the morning sun coming through your window to wake up to.


This is the zoomed in look at part of the view outside my window. Most of my view is the student parking lot but these buildings are on the other side of the parking lot. I'm not sure if they are part of the dorm housing or not since they are behind a separate fence. I zoomed in because I want you to notice the white cylinders on top of the brown colored building. Those are hot water heaters. Most of the residential homes in Israel and the apartment buildings have their hot water heaters on the roof. They also have solar panels as well. The gray building in the front is currently under construction. Construction works differently here. If this was Texas A&M and they had to do construction near the dorms they would usually wait until 8am or if you are lucky 10 am. Here these guys get started earlier some mornings its before my alarm goes off a 6:30am. They are trying to get a lot of work down before the afternoon when it really gets hot. They work everyday but Saturday.

Here is my bed and nightstand. The mattress is made out of some type of foam and its only an inch and a half thick. I'm still not used to sleeping on it yet. The reason my comforter is two colors is because it is a sleeping bag. I want to go on some archaeological digs while I'm here and that requires a sleeping bag. In order to save space in my luggage I decided to use it as a comforter as well.













Here is my desk and bookshelf. Homework is out on the desk for that authentic student look. The Israeli flag was given to me by Yael the lady that works in the gift shop of the Regency Hotel. Note the blue water bottle on the desk this is a very important item. If you are coming to Israel you need one of these. It gets so hot here you always need water with you. Almost every student on campus has something similar to this. Next to the desk is my wardrobe that has a built in floor length mirror. I decided not to take a picture of the closet because I didn't think that would be very exciting to see.













My light switches and electric sockets are cover up as shown. I'm not sure why but I'm going to guess it has something to do with the safety of the sealed room. The light switches and sockets in my room mate's room are not covered. The sockets in the kitchen are covered like this.














This is a mezuzah attached to the upper right door frame. There is also one outside our front door and many of the offices and classrooms at school also have them. Every hotel room at the Regency had them as well. Inside is a piece of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21) These verses are part of the prayer Shema Israel. They are placed on the doorways in Jewish houses in order to fulfill the Biblical command of Deuteronomy 6:9

That completes the tour of the sealed room. I hope you found it interesting.







Questions from the last post: Uncle Joe- The roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is another point of argument. The roof currently needs replacing but they cannot decide who owns the roof. Since it is an honor and a privilege to take care of the church they all want a piece of it. I'm guessing they will still be arguing about the roof until it falls down on them.

Arrived Safely in Jerusalem

My name is Anna and this is my blog about graduate studies abroad. I have a bachelor's degree in anthropology. I am going for a master's degree in the Bible and the Ancient Near East at Rothberg International School part of Hebrew University. This blog will be about my adventures in Israel and differences in culture I notice. I meant to start this blog before I left the United States but I ran out of time so I am starting it now a few days before I start classes.

When I told people I was going to study in Israel they would immediately ask me one of two questions: 1. Are you Jewish? No, I am not Jewish but you don't have to be Jewish to want to go to Israel. Jerusalem is also a holy place for Christians and Muslims alike. 2. Aren't you scared? Yes and No. I am scared because this is one of the biggest changes I have ever faced in my life. This is as far away from home as I've ever been. I do not have any relatives that live in Israel so I am alone over here. I currently don't know Hebrew so I still have a language barrier to work with. The no I'm not scared answer is in regards to my safety. Everyone seems to have the opinion that Israel is a war torn third world country that is crawling with people who want to kill you. The truth is Israel is a very well developed country, you can drink the water here no problem and I think their medical system is as good if not better than the United States. I think the dangerous perception people have of Israel is because the news only reports on Israel when something bad happens. I've been in Israel for a few days now and I feel perfectly safe. Plus as I like to point out I got an A in the self defense class I took for physical education credit for my undergraduate degree. So I should be just fine.

Safety isn't really an issue here for me and I'll explain why. Every Israeli citizen is required to serve in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) I think two years is required but I'm not certain. So everywhere you go there are security guards outside. There is an armed guard outside the front door of the hotel I'm staying in. The grocery store up the street also has an armed guard and they have the right to go through your bag and wand you if they want to. The mall has similar security guards in place sometimes with added metal detectors. I am perfectly safe possibly safer than I was back home in Texas.

I formally register for my summer classes and move into the dorms next week. I'm going to work on several posts about packing and what to pack for a study abroad in Israel but I'm waiting until I know how well I did myself. This way I can include what I wish I had brought and what I wish I had left behind. I hope this blog will be helpful to others thinking of studying abroad or at least interesting to follow.