Campus Life...

First of all, sorry for the delayed update. Secondly, I just want to express how excited I am that college is starting again! It is a nice change from hostel life. I checked out of my hostel on sunday the 6th and took a taxi to Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus. The taxi driver dropped me off about a mile away from the building I needed to be at and so I had to walk with all of my stuff (which is a lot of stuff) to the Boyar building which is the headquarters of the Rothberg International School. After I got there, I was completely exhausted, but rest was not to come. The Madrich (a student assigned to help new arrivals) gave me my information packet and told me to follow the instructions and don't miss any of the assigned rooms. This meant going up and down stairs and bouncing back and forth between rooms. Even though I was tired, I was really happy to have a set schedule to follow again. After getting my student I.D. card, my password for the computer, my rented cell phone, and my dorm assignment, a shuttle bus took me from the Boyar building to where my dorms are. All I can say is, I can't believe I have to walk that far everyday to get to classes. That small detail aside, I am impressed with my dorm room. It is rather spacious in comparison to others I have seen in the states. It has a fridge, ample closet space, and a nice desk where I might be spending a lot of time at. My roomate is from Germany and he is in the Bet level of the course, so I have a feeling he will be a lot of help in the coming weeks. School starts tomorrow and honestly I can't wait. Being here three weeks now have made me want to learn Hebrew so much more. That is what has happened in the past couple days. Before that, while I was still in the hostel, not much was going on. I did however have a great Erev Shabbat. I was invited to a picnic with a congregation that meets at Christ's Church in the old city. It was about a 45 minute walk from my hostel and when I got there, they were nowhere in sight. I walked up and down the park and couldn't find them so I thought I would just go home. Just then, a group of guys invited me to play some ultimate frisbee. Since I am a semi-avid frisbee player, I thought hey, why not? This was not the ultimate frisbee I was used to however. The main difference was that the frisbee was rubber, so the only throw you could really do was a normal forehand. There was to be no flicks or hammer throws (for anyone that knows frisbee lingo). Add to that my being completely out of shape, and it was an interesting game. It was fun however and they invited me to come out every friday at three. After the game, I found the group for the picnic and sat down with them. All the sudden this ultra-orthodox looking man came up to us and sat down. He grabbed the guitar and started playing some great songs. Come to find out he is a believer in Yeshua! It was great. It is not often that I see a man with white Tzitzit praising Yeshua. Anyway, that is my day. I have to cut this post short cause I have some more orientation to get to.

Address to University:

Jesse Hughes
Office of Student Activities
Rothberg International School
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Boyar Building, Mount Scopus
91905 Jerusalem, Israel

With much love from Jerusalem,
Jesse


Here are some pictures of the campus.