A lot happened today. First, I left Ramat Beit Shemesh by bus for Jerusalem. After I got here, I met up with Zeus/my bags and took a taxi to Midreshet Rachel. I ate lunch, met with everyone, and then took another taxi to my new apartment in Har Nof. I felt like I was in a big daze all day long. Everything was surreal. Everyone, including myself, expected that I just knew everything - where to go, what to say, what to do. I did know all of this but I felt very alone throughout the move. A lot of people offered to (and did) help but the entire time I couldn't stop feeling alone. For the first time ever traveling, I didn't have a close friend by my side. I've never been in Israel without someone right there to hold my hand every step of the way. This past summer Jen was there in the bed next to me all the time and I know that if I ever needed anything, even if it were the middle of the night, she would be right at my side. It's different now. It's a different year, a different experience. Tomorrow I'm going to make new friends and have experiences like no other. I'll see some familiar faces but it will be different. I'm nervous to start school. I barely remember any Hebrew and I'm scared to be really far behind the rest of the class.
My friend Anna came up today from Be'er Sheva and I got to spend the majority of the afternoon with her. Finally, not only a familiar face, but a true friend. She brought me snacks (I think I ate 10 oreos, a bag of beesli, and cookies within an hour) and sat with me while I unpacked. Then, we went to the bus station together and I got a rug for my room. Now, I'm sitting here in my room and I think I'm allergic to my bargain 30 shek rug. I'm bummed about this. It matches my Ikea comforter so well. Bringing my comforter and pillow cases was a fabulous idea. Now, I just need my happy lamp. At first I thought that wasn't a possibility - but oh, just wait - it is! I just need to find someone with a car to take me up to the Ikea up north to buy a new happy lamp. This will happen in due time. No worries. My room will be magically lit up soon.
I hung up all my clothes and set up a space heater so I'm feeling a little more cozy than before. I just have to hang up a big paper ball thing over my lamp, put up my pictures (same ones from my walls in AZ), and put up my Israeli flag from Yom Yerushalayim last May and I think I will feel very at home. Well, not very at home. But at home. I have a little bit of junk food for the morning for 'breakfast' and hopefully I'll get some healthier stuff later this week. Typical though, tomorrow we have a night class and Tuesday is a friend's vort (wedding party). So, just as I thought, I would have zero time to do anything practical while at sem other than go to school.
It's okay though. I'm in Israel. That's all that matters. I'm really surrounded by some of the most incredible people in the world and I'm in the best place in the world. I've been given some great advice by many trusted people that I should go out and take a walk. Hopefully, I will get to do that at some point over the next few days. I have no idea what I'm doing for Shabbos yet, or Purim, or Pesach. I don't even want to think about this stuff yet, but it's all just around the corner. Time to go turn on the dud for a shower... then sleep... and then school in the morning :)
