Hello Everyone! I have been having the time of my life here. I am in the most incredible city in the world! First of all, the flight here was increadibly LONG!!!!! However I got to watch two different sunsets and a beautiful sunset while over the ocean.
I am pretty sure that the fact
I am pretty sure that the fact that I was sitting next to a guy the whole way went a little bit out of our normal BYU curfew time!! ha ha! I sat next to four different people for four different flights. I also had a long layover. However the layover was actually kind of fun because we got a big group together and played a game the whole time. I am already making wonderful friends. 
Everyone is so nice and so fun to be around. I was not able to sleep on the plane all but 20 minutes and only got a 2 hours the night before I left so I was extremely exhausted when I arrived. When we arrived, we still had half of a day to stay up. It included the long orientation meeting, (which many people fell asleep in) dinner, getting to know your professors, and unpacking. It was a long three days all combined into one. However I made it to sleep and woke up to the call to prayer at four am. However, I am not one bit unhappy about not getting sleep. I dont want to miss anything. Plus, Brad always says "I can sleep when I'm dead." The next day which was on Thursday we woke up early, had breakfast, had yet another orientation meeting (which many people also slept in) and then began our toured walk of the city. It was 7 wonderful miles. Jerusalem absoluetly fascinates me. So many different cultures, religions, and people all put in one city. The BYU Jerusalem Center is on the mount of olives looking over the whole city. It is the most beautiful view I have ever seen. The building also everytime I go and look around literally makes me cry. I dont know if it is just jet leg or the fact that it is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever been in. Probably both. It feels to me like a temple. I feel incredibly blessed and rich just to be living in this building. Today was the first day of classes. I went to my old testiment class first then have Ancient Near Eastern Studies. They both seem really intense and I feel really lost. However I am excited about them because I will be able to read in my many texbooks that have been given to me and then go out and see what I just read. We also had a couple meetings today for our different commitees. On fridays they do not let you out into the city until 3:00 because if is the Jewish "sabbath" and it is so crowded and populated that they do not want any students down there because it is the time that most terrorist attacks would happen. Dont get scared! I feel extremely safe here. We are so protected in this building by countless body guards and I feel that Heavenly Father will watch over us wherever we are. I have only about 40 more minutes and I will be able to go to the city. I am very excited to explore. To sum up I am having such an amazing time, meeting wonderful friends and am in the most beautiful and sacred place in the world!
Everyone is so nice and so fun to be around. I was not able to sleep on the plane all but 20 minutes and only got a 2 hours the night before I left so I was extremely exhausted when I arrived. When we arrived, we still had half of a day to stay up. It included the long orientation meeting, (which many people fell asleep in) dinner, getting to know your professors, and unpacking. It was a long three days all combined into one. However I made it to sleep and woke up to the call to prayer at four am. However, I am not one bit unhappy about not getting sleep. I dont want to miss anything. Plus, Brad always says "I can sleep when I'm dead." The next day which was on Thursday we woke up early, had breakfast, had yet another orientation meeting (which many people also slept in) and then began our toured walk of the city. It was 7 wonderful miles. Jerusalem absoluetly fascinates me. So many different cultures, religions, and people all put in one city. The BYU Jerusalem Center is on the mount of olives looking over the whole city. It is the most beautiful view I have ever seen. The building also everytime I go and look around literally makes me cry. I dont know if it is just jet leg or the fact that it is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever been in. Probably both. It feels to me like a temple. I feel incredibly blessed and rich just to be living in this building. Today was the first day of classes. I went to my old testiment class first then have Ancient Near Eastern Studies. They both seem really intense and I feel really lost. However I am excited about them because I will be able to read in my many texbooks that have been given to me and then go out and see what I just read. We also had a couple meetings today for our different commitees. On fridays they do not let you out into the city until 3:00 because if is the Jewish "sabbath" and it is so crowded and populated that they do not want any students down there because it is the time that most terrorist attacks would happen. Dont get scared! I feel extremely safe here. We are so protected in this building by countless body guards and I feel that Heavenly Father will watch over us wherever we are. I have only about 40 more minutes and I will be able to go to the city. I am very excited to explore. To sum up I am having such an amazing time, meeting wonderful friends and am in the most beautiful and sacred place in the world!
(this is one of the views outside on my balcony)
I have far too many questions about this new place and culture you are experiencing! What do they feed you? What is your room like? What game did you play in the airport? Are they as strict as they made it seem at the first orientation? Did you fall asleep during the long lectures? Excuse me?! Body guards...??? Crazy. Are you going to try to climb the Dome of the Rock? What is the city like? When is your first field trip? What other classes do you have? What are your new classmates like? Any cute boys? Any girls that are potential forever friends?
ReplyDeleteI'm having a great time picturing you in your new temporary home. It sounds amazing!
One last question: Are you joking?! You're actually living on the Mount of Olives!??!!!
I'm laughing out loud right now. Because all of Jenny's responses were mine exactly. So . . . fess up. To all of it!
ReplyDeleteLet us know what you see in the city when you go wandering around and who you walk with and what you smell.
Love you!
ha ha! I am laughing out loud right now too. I will go and call you girls right now. Hopefully you answer. Love you way too much!!
ReplyDeleteDear, I don't think you can call us. I think we would have to pay way to much receiving international calls. But I was thinking you could call me at Nick's aunt's house. She has a land line there. Let's set it up sometime.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm curious...does Jerusalem smell different?
I looked up the Jerusalem Center online so I could answer some of my own questions. It seems like an extension of the BYU campus in some ways. Still, I can see what you mean by you cry every time you walk around the building. It's amazingly elegant and beautiful. And the gardens are something I'd very much like to visit. As for the views...wow...that's about all I can say. Wow.
I'm happy to make you both laugh. It's a fine way to unite us while we're so far apart.
Love you.
ha ha! That’s great you have been doing your research. I think it would be awesome if someday we could all come here as a family and I could show you around. It is so hard to explain the amount of beauty, the different tastes and smells and the views are something that no picture will ever be able to show or describe, not even close. There are definitely different smells. One smell that is very strong is if you ever in one of the corners it smells like very strong, old, fermented urine. It is disgusting. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher that I went to they would go around the whole church spraying, but not really spraying (it is hard to explain) incents everywhere. It was not like any incents that I have ever smelled though. It was very strong and at first you would want to plug your nose but then it started smell good. See what I mean it is hard to explain and I am doing an awful job. Otherwise if you are going around in the old city it smells a lot like food because so many cook and have different shops. It is a mixture of so many different smells it is very interesting. Good questions!
ReplyDelete