First Shabbat, First Classes

Before I say anything, I'd like to apologize for not being more creative with my post titles.  Maybe it's something I can work on.

So, let's start with Friday. Friday, I learned how to get to one of the malls, and Ben Yehudah street.  There, I met what seemed like every single 18 year old in the world, ran into people from camp, and met up with friends from Connecticut.  Then I met their friends.  It was adventurous, to say the least.  Then I went back to the dorms to get ready for Shabbat.

Shabbat was fantastic - really everything I had envisioned.  We started with a beautiful Kabbalat shabbat (Carlebach style) at the Kotel.  It was a little crowded, but that made the dancing even more exciting.  I stood next to a girl from Toronto who I've connected with musically, and we harmonized the whole time.  Then, we came back for dinner (assigned seating to get to know each other), and I shared high school memories with the girls at my table, and also sang for them because one of them had heard me sing in the shower.  Funny how that happens.

Next, came the Midrasha singing.  We sang and sang and sang.  Then we sang.  The next day we accidentally woke up late, had lunch, and then sang some more.  Then we had some free time, dinner, and then sang Shabbat out the door.  Is it just me or is the word sang starting to sound funny?  Anyways, everything about Shabbat was beautiful.  We were all a little emotional, between being thrilled to be here and being homesick for our own Shabbat tables.

Last night (Saturday night), I went over to one of the apartments to hang out with some of my favorite girls (so far).  Then we basically walked a huge circle around the Old City.

And TODAY was the first day of classes!  It actually went by really quickly and I really enjoyed myself, although I can see myself getting quite tired after a few days. I'll adjust, though.  Just for perspective, not counting times when I have a class more than once a week, or when I'm supposed to study by myself in the Beit Midrash, I have eighteen classes.  Eighteen!  It's crazy.  

So, today I had Gemara (or Talmud), which is a class that's given in Hebrew at my level.  It was pretty great, and I felt really accomplished afterward.  Then I had my methodology class, which is really my cup of tea.  We first read and article about teaching methods, then discussed them, and then talked specifically about how to give a speech.  Next class (in a week), I'll be giving a four minute speech for us to work off of, critique, and learn from.  Then I had free "learning" time, in which I wrote the speech.  Then I learned about laws and Shabbat, then about lessons from the Parshah (weekly portion), and then learned from the book of Samuel I on my own.

For those of you who think I'm insane, I believe I am, and I'm proud of it.  I really feel that after this year, I'll have solidified the knowledge I learned in middle school and high school, and have gained skills for learning on my own, as well.

Tomorrow I have a crazy class where I learn eight chapters of Chumash (Bible) a week.  That should be exciting.  But I also have the evening off.

If I can get my camera to work, I'll add pictures of my roommates and the dorms.  Also, I promise this won't always be detailed descriptions of my courses, it's just what's occupying my thoughts at the moment.  Until next time!

Gabriella