I'm HERE!!

Welp...I'm in Jerusalem!! I think I am so tired and jet lagged that it hasn't completely hit me.

We started our journey from the Salt Lake Airport, where almost the whole group was on the same flight...all 80 of us. The airline was super nice though and let us all board first, mostly because they had to check all of our passports, which they knew would take a little bit of time. I hurried on, because I was so scared of not being able to get my carry on in the overhead compartment. I got on pretty fast, so it wasn't a problem...but some of the people on the flight ended up having to check their bags, which was one of my fears. We flew from Salt Lake to JFK, I was sitting next to a girl and a guy from my group, which was nicer than a random stranger.

We got to JFK and we had a little layover, so we went and grabbed food, but when we got back to the gate people said that they had walked around looking at people's tickets and passports.  This confused us because it was only 7 and our flight wasn't until 8:30. It turns out that the flight had about 400 people on it. Holy cow!! Who knew that many people regularly went to Israel? Before we got on the plane, the gate had it's own security that we had to go through. So, we slammed down our food and got on the plane...and ended up being on the plane an hour early. I have never been on a plane that had that many people!! We didn't even take off on time, so I feel like we were on the plane for almost 2 hours by the time the plane actually got off the ground!

The flight wasn't too bad. It was 11 hours...which I was dreading. I think because we knew it was going to be long, we didn't think about it too much. You know it is a long flight when they have time to show 4 movies. Thankfully I was able to sleep through the middle two movies. It wasn't the most comfortable sleep, but it helped the time go by.

We arrived in Tel Aviv about 2:30 or 3 Israel time. We went through the passport check and some people got asked a bunch of questions, but the guy I went to didn't ask me anything. All I was thinking was, "don't use the word studying, we aren't studying." I guess if you say that you are here studying for 3 1/2 months, they'll force you to get a student visa...which is a problem. We found the teachers, got on buses, and headed to Jerusalem. One girl mentioned that it is a lot greener than she was expecting. Which is what mom and dad had said when they came to visit Kara. When we arrived in Jerusalem on the buses, it was unreal. Jerusalem is so pretty!

Walking into the Jerusalem Center was also unreal. The center is seriously gorgeous! It is definitely set up different than I was expecting. Everything just branches off of the main stairs. We took tours, had some time to unpack, ate dinner at the Oasis (the cafeteria), had orientations (and seriously struggled staying awake), and got ready for bed.

I was so exhausted, but sleeping didn't come quite as easily as I was hoping. It didn't help that they do the Call to Prayer on loud speakers at 4 in the morning. It is pretty loud. I thought maybe our patio door was open...but nope. I kind of wish I knew that was being said...it's kind of interesting. They go for a while though and they are often. I don't know how people sleep through it. Maybe I'll just get used to it and tune it out...or I'll just be too exhausted to hear it.

Thursday was our first full day!

We had breakfast at 6:30. Woo! We were all jet lagged, that I was pretty much already awake before I got up anyways. I walked out to breakfast, and I was already matching someone! Woo Target dresses! Throughout the day we realized that 2 other girls have the dress too! Twins everywhere!

Today we TOURED THE CITY!! It was great! We saw the place to do Money Exchanges, met Omar, we were shown where everything is, walked through the Old City, went into West Jerusalem. It was good! They just took us on a tour, so they didn't want us all stopping to take pictures and buy things. I'm a little nervous about buying things...because I feel like all the merchants rip you off!! Also, I need to become accustomed to what are reasonable prices to pay for things.

We got back, ate lunch, I tried to do some of the reading. The teachers give a lot of reading!! Oh, right. I'm here to be in school. I forget! hahaha. We start our first classes Friday, but the classes all seem pretty intense. I feel like for a study abroad program they should loosen up on you a bit, but that is definitely not the case here! You can't get away with not doing the readings!

We had more orientations, and I was dying. So exhausted!! I was struggling to stay awake the whole hour and half. We had time before dinner...where I probably should have been studying...but my roommate (Robin Grigg) and I just crashed! We were like, "we'll just sleep for a half an hour of so." Nope. The next thing we know my roommate is telling us that we have dinner in 5 minutes. I just laughed.

After dinner, my committee (the In Center Activities) did get to know you games. I was the designated picture taker of the activity...which I was ok with because I didn't feel like running around playing missionary tag and such.

It was a good day! It will take some time to get on this schedule! 9 hours is a big difference, especially since we are on a schedule!

But things are good!! The building is gorgeous and the view in gorgeous. We are on Mount Scopus and we just have a view of the city! The people are great, and everyone wants to be friends, so it's never weird to talk to people or sit by random people.

I still can't believe I am here!! It will be a great summer!!

(Oh...and don't always expected such detailed posts...it will probably wear off...I'm just putting off doing my readings!! hahaha)