highlights of the week

1. eating the best hummus in my life with one of my favorite shopkeepers here. he invited us in the shop and just stuffed pitas in our hands and insisted that we eat this huge platter of hummus! and juice. it was so delicious.

2. literary society. this is legitimately SO fun. we all gather after dinner outside with our laptops and think of a one-sentence prompt. then we have 20-30 minutes to write a story, monologue, poem, whatever you want! then we get in a circle and read what we've written. it's the best. AHH, i love to write. 

3. taking a break from studying to play soccer. it was so refreshing. 

4. meeting one of the JC gardeners that i see all the time. i've decided that i want to meet every person that works here. i was sitting on my balcony reading and he was pruning roses and we had a really great 2 minute conversation. his name is muhammad and he's been a gardener at the JC for 26 years! 

5. going to the western wall at 4:30 AM to watch the shavuot sunrise service. shavuot is a jewish holiday that commemorates receiving the torah from mt. sinai. it was really fun, especially since we aren't typically allowed outside of the center before 6. and i've learned so many jewish traditions and practices that i understood a lot of things that people were doing there that i wouldn't have a month ago, so it was really cool to see the rituals we learn about in practice!

6. mashed potatoes for dinner. yes please. 

turkey: part one

ok. i just loved turkey so much! it was a really really good week. i loved the places we went and i loved getting to know other kids better. i really am not a fan of travel logs, so i'm going to keep the logging brief! on sunday morning, we flew to istanbul! we actually didn't fly out till the afternoon, but flying with 90 people is a beast, so we got to the airport, like, 6 hours early haha.

we got to istanbul at night and it was so beautiful. my favorite thing about istanbul is definitely the mosques. they are so old and gorgeous. there are 2,000 mosques in turkey! they all look like palaces, too. so you look out your window at night and you can see dozens of  lit up mosques within a mile.

the next day, we spent the day in the city seeing sites. we went to the suleymaniye mosque, which was awesome, followed by the grand bazaar, one of the biggest in the world. we saw turkey's national soccer team there, who had just won a big game the night before, so they marched around the bazaar shouting "ole ole ole ole!" i got a sweet video but can't upload it here :(

we went on a cruise on the bosphorous strait, which is what separates the european continent from the asian continent. i don't even understand why you would have two halves of a city on two different continents, completely separated on all sides by a body of water. this makes no sense to me. but, like, how fun to look to your left and see asia and look to your right and see europe? way cool! 

we went to the palace where all the turkish sultans lived and after, we found some grass to lie down on and take a post-lunch nap! haha. 

we took a beautiful walk at sunset over a bridge that crosses the strait. there were seagulls everywhere! i was in heaven. such a stunning city. actually, you know what is heaven? baklava! i had never tried it. what better way to eat baklava than some baracklava?? 

the next day, we spent a lot of time driving. we spent the whole week on the west coast of turkey and stayed in different hotels every night. so there was a lot of time on the bus. but it's ok. i think it's amazing how creative you become when there is nothing to do on a bus. we had a dance party one day in the aisles of the bus. we also played that game where you get blind folded, have headphones put in your ears, and then a song you don't know is blasted into your ears and you have to jam out to it in a microphone. we played picture telephone and made our professors tell us the stories of how they met their wives. anyway, we took another ferry, but it was one of those ones where the cars and buses just drive right onto the boat and it ferries them to the other side! 

we went to the ancient city of troy before going to our hotel in cannakale. we went to see the sights, and liked them so much that we built a wooden horse to conquer the trojans and take over the city.

after troy, we went to our hotel for the night. it was incredible! it's on the beach with a pier and a swimming pool.

we went swimming, hung out on the pier, and of course...had a bonfire dance party on the beach!!! i had forgotten how much i loved to dance in high school until then. i love dancing! you just forget every care in the world when you're getting your groove on hardcore. it was definitely the most memorable night of the trip. 

ok. please take a look at this guy. i was sitting in the grass and saw it crawling by me and thought it was a snake. you know a centipede is really big when you think it's a snake! 

my internet is being really slow, so i'll post the rest of my turkey pictures soon! i am having so much fun here and i know this is such a blessing in my life. i'm grateful for the people who made this trip possible for me. i cannot believe i'm here. 

little brothers

this is my brother, jacob, who is simultaneously the biggest brat in the world and the best brother ever. i just talked to him on the phone this morning and got some pretty exciting news. jacob just got called to serve an LDS mission in......

sao paulo, brazil! 

(reporting to the MTC october 31st)

i am just so happy for him! i am going to miss him a ton while he's gone, but i am so excited for him to have this experience! he's going to be a really great missionary. YAY! 

turkey teaser

i'm back from turkey! 

and it was the best week ever. 

ask my dad, though, i am the queen of the "best {blank} ever" statement. i always use it, and he makes fun of me. but i dunno, i have like, 85 other people to back me up on that statement. 

i definitely am officially dubbing turkey the best kept secret ever. i love that i would probably never go to turkey on my own if it weren't for this study abroad. but it was one of the most memorable vacations/beautiful places i've ever experienced. 

the only downside of going to turkey is that i've been back a day and i feel like my life is a little out of control, which is the worst feeling ever. my room is a mess, i have no clean clothes, and i have so much reading to do this week.....some of which i should have done last week....

so i can't really blog for the next few days because i need to get back in the swing of things. you know how it is after a vacation. that first day back hits you hard. especially when you have to read all of leviticus, numbers, and deuteronomy for old testament class the next day...but who's keeping track? 

anyway, i'll give you a little teaser of the trip and start at the end....

our flight back to israel was last night at about 1 AM and we were so tired. i slept the whole flight (which never happens) and woke up right when we were descending. it was like, 4 in the morning and i felt like i had been slammed in the head with a ton of brick. let me preface this by telling you that the ben gurion airport is probably the most highly secure public airport in the world. they are psycho about security. and the directors of the program have told us probably 5 times exactly what to say if you get asked at customs what you are doing in israel, because if you say the wrong thing, you are worse off than an egg on jerusalem pavement in august. 

so i am the first one to customs and i hand the lady my passport and she looks at me, and at my passport picture, then back to me, and then the passport picture and says in a suspicious  voice "what are you doing israel?" 

"i'm here as a tourist. i'm a student in america who is here with a program from america." 

she looks at me and tells me i can't be a student here if i don't have a student visa. i tell her that i'm not a student here, i'm a student in america and i'm with a program. she asks me how long i'm staying and i tell her 4 months and then she starts flipping a lid in my face. 

"you cannot enter the country! i don't believe you. you can only stay in the country as a tourist for 3 months. what are you really doing here? woman! hello! answer me!" 

and i am so freaked out at this point because all i have been told is the script that i rehearsed in my head and am totally not prepared for this, partly because i am half asleep. 

and then she starts interrogating me. "what was your flight number?" i tell her i don't know the number, but i give her my ticket stub. she asks me the address of where i am staying, and i don't know that either, but i try to explain to her where it is and she just rolls her eyes at me so rudely. she asks me my exact itinerary and i explain to her what we are doing, but that just makes her more suspicious of me. at this point, pretty much everyone is watching us because she is raising her voice at me and making all these phone calls that i can't understand. seriously lady, can i just go to bed? it is 4 in the morning and i have no idea what to say to you to make you happy! 

she gets off the phone and then takes this other boy in our group into a room to ask him some questions. i walk away and my heart is pounding so fast. you know that scene in how to train your dragon where hiccup walks away from toothless and he falls down because his legs are like jelly? that's how i felt. it turned out fine after the most stressful 10 minutes ever. but i was over it the second i sat down on the bus to drive home and fell asleep again. 

want to read my official guide to having a good time in turkey? stay tuned. 

the pool of bethesda and donny osmond

ok first off, right now i'm in a classroom with everyone else watching joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat. i probably have better things to do (like packing), but it's one of those movies that you sit down to watch 5 minutes of and then you realize that you can't watch just part of it! it's like nicotine for the eyes! 

anyway, it has been a crazy school week! on top of a full load of classes and homework, we are living in this amazing city where there is SO much to do! i am trying to find time to breath and sleep, but when you're in jerusalem, you can sleep when you're dead, am i right?

the other day, we went to a neighborhood mosque that's not a touristy one, so people really go there to worship 5 times a day without visitors coming in and out. i'm glad we got to see something more intimate and down-to-earth. definitely a cool experience!

yesterday, a group of us went to the pool of bethesda, which is where this famous story took place: 

it was really beautiful and so well preserved! the pools themselves were kind of gross haha, but the surrounding garden and church and ruins were really amazing. i know you can't really see in this picture, but i found a way cool door that was a beautiful color (i love blue, if you can't tell from the first picture!)

here's the entrance of the pool. i always think solo pictures are a little awkward. what are you supposed to do with your hands?? 

this is part of the pool underground. don't you want to take a swim in that?

something that i love about going to see all these ruins in spring is the wildflowers that are blooming. i just think it's so cool that in one picture you get these old ruins that are thousands of years old and also freshly bloomed bright red poppies. 

sorry for the weird zoomed-in photo, but this one is for mom! here's the sweet leather bag i bought in the old city. best purchase ever. i have been wearing it all over the place! 

two of my roommates, rachel and whitney. this was definitely a fun excursion! i'll for sure go back again. 

last but not least, i want to give a shout out to my mom for mother's day! she is literally the most influential person on earth to me. she was a huge part in making my jerusalem dream a reality. i could go on and on about all the sacrifices she's made for me and all of the teenage junk she endured through haha, but i won't. she is so incredible and i hope i can be a mother that's as compassionate and as unconditionally loving as her some day. happy mothers day! 

also, it's my darling eric's birthday...i'm sad i'm not there to celebrate it with him :( he is another person that has been so stinking supportive of me coming to jerusalem. i am so lucky. you could not ask for a sweeter, more loving boy. 

happy may 13th :) i seriously need to go to bed. ah! i'm going to be in istanbul tonight! 

happiest news of my life

this is sarah. i know that i've written about her before, but i have to do it again. sarah is my best friend in the entire world. we have been through every single celebration, milestone, and setback of each other's. i am just so out-of-this-world happy for her. 

sarah got engaged to the sweetest guy ever this week!

his name is zach. 

and he is in love with sarah. 

i don't know who wouldn't be. 

he proposed to her at disneyland in the restaurant in the pirates of the caribbean ride on her birthday. 

sarah loves disneyland more than life. 

it was a magical day. 

i just talked to sarah on the phone and was literally screaming and giggling and jumping up and down while hearing the story.  

i have been running around the center spreading the good news. 

the sad news is that i will be gone for almost the whole engagement. 

but i'll be there for the wedding, luckily. 

i am so happy for her! 

i can't stop smiling! 

i love you, sarah! 

i'm tellin', i'm avivin'

about half of us went to tel aviv this weekend....and it was so fun! i was debating whether i should stay in jerusalem and study or go to tel aviv for the day....but then i remembered that i promised myself i would never say no to a fun opportunity. so we hopped in a couple buses and drove to the beach! it was so gorgeous! tel aviv is so different from jerusalem. it's like a hip, trendy party town. 

so we all brought our swimsuits and beach gear, but five of us saw a bike rental place and ended up just exploring the city on bikes the whole day instead. i died. it was so beautiful. we biked all along the coast, right on the beach, and explored the old port town of jaffa. we ran into some teenager boys breaking a horse bareback on the beach and they offered to let us ride, but i'm pretty sure my insurance here doesn't cover that....i wish. well, atleast i think they were offering to let us ride. the only thing they could say in english was "very much", so that lead to some awkward conversation and a lot of repeated "very much"s. 

overlooking the mediterranean sea. i kept singing that vengaboys song in my head that goes "oh, we're going to ibiza! oh, in the mediterranean sea!"  

it was a great day! kind of like a vacation from a vacation, and i am ok with that! except i came home late at night, opened my backpack and remembered why i almost stayed home... 

the next day, we had a field trip in the negev desert. we went to a really cool bedouin town that is the headquarters of a really awesome nonprofit organization that helps bedouin women make money without breaking their nomadic traditions. they shear sheep, dye and make wool threads, and then the women weave the most beautiful rugs and bags and pillows! all the money goes to the bedouin women and they can make rugs at home. the coolest part about it is that the director of the program is an israeli woman and she started the organization because the israeli government doesn't recognize bedouins and as she puts it "if my government is not going to help out the other people in this country, then i need to." seriously. can i be her? girl power. 

demonstrating the rug making process. you have to have tough hands for weaving!

we went to a bunch of different sites, including be'er sheva, where abraham and isaac went to build a well and commune with god. we had a way neat devotional up there. i seriously LOVE my old testament professor. 

our last stop was the wilderness of zin, which is the wilderness that moses and the children of israel wandered around for 40 years. we took a hike there, and after a couple miles, we decided it would pretty much be the worst to wander there for 40 years. but it was actually a really pretty hike, and i love hiking!  

i don't even feel like i'm in school. i mean, i have lots of homework and classes every day, but i'm living with my professors, hanging out with their kids, and going on trips with them. aka, we're going to turkey in 5 days! ever since i read about bridget going to turkey on an archeological dig in the sisterhood of the traveling pants, i've wanted to go so badly. ya, i know, not the greatest inspiration, but i love those books more than snape loves lilly potter, so let's roll with it.

in the orson hyde park right next to the garden of gethsemane.