I live in the Student Village Dorms of Hebrew University, which is the neighborhood Giva Tzarfatit (“French Hill”). It really is a hill located in the very East of Jerusalem and we are therefore surrounded by a very diverse population. Despite the fact that it’s far from the city center so we have to spend a bit more on transportation, I enjoy living there. From the neighborhood you can see the Dome of the Rock, the Dead Sea, and even the beautiful Jordanian hills in the distance. Fun fact: it is actually where my mom grew up in after she moved from Romania to Israel so that’s pretty cool.

Anyway, back to my day. I purposefully wake up early in order to have a delicious breakfast, which normally consists of ביצת עין עם לחם ,בולגרית ואבוקדו…sounds delicious, huh? After that I either go to Hebrew, my video editing class or dance. Most of my days end around 16:00, with the exception of one extra long dance day. After classes I like to go with my friends to explore, eat or shop, but I also make sure to have lunch or dinner with my grandma 2-3 times a week. I’m so thankful that she lives not just in Jerusalem but only 2.5 miles from the dance academy. It’s nice to have her nearby as she is probably the family member I am most closest to. She is also the person I feel the most comfortable speaking Hebrew around so after a whole day of second-guessing my grammar it’s nice to just let go.

My favorite place to go, besides my grandma’s obviously, is the shuk. I know I’ve mentioned the shuk before but it is basically a huge market filled with fresh yet cheap produce, bakeries, street food, restaurants as well as bars at night. Although it surprised me at first, I think it has some of the best food in all of Jerusalem, maybe even all of Israel. I could go on about it forever but instead I’ll create it’s very own post sometime soon, after I’ve tried more restaurants of course. Here’s a few pictures as a preview.

Although most study abroad programs seem like more travel and less study, I actually do have 2-3 hours of homework per week. I know, not much, but that’s what I usually do after I get back home from a long day. I also usually hang out with my awesome roomies or work on other things like securing an internship or reading children’s books in Hebrew to learn new words. That’s basically a day in the life here in the holy land.

Some of the goals I wanted to reach while abroad were not only to improve my Hebrew and to connect to Israel more, but to also become more independent as well as more knowledgeable about myself. I’ll be honest, I thought being abroad would allow me to reach those goals more easily and naturally than being back home. I do experience more interactions that are outside of my comfort zone, however I’m finding that I still really have to push myself to seek change.

For example, I thought that taking Hebrew class and living in Israel would help me improve my Hebrew immensely, however my Hebrew class is a bit slow and I’m surrounded by English speakers most of the time. I’ve asked the teacher for more work and she gave me a couple of short story books to learn words from but I still have to be very diligent in reading every night and looking up unfamiliar words.

Also, due to the fact that I’m surrounded by my Israeli family and friends, I find myself relying on them to the point where I sort of sacrifice my independence and self-discovery. As much as I love being close to the family that I haven’t been close to in almost forever, it almost hinders me from doing what I came here to do.

It feels good to reflect on my initial goals and realize what I can do more to reach them; and I see now that it is going to take a lot more effort. With passover break being about two weeks long, I am going to use this time to be more with myself. I will post again after the break and hopefully get together a post about the shuk as well! I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of Spring!

~Maytal