my journey
 
Okay. I usually start these posts by commenting on how long it has been since the last one...but this time it's true. I haven't blogged in over a month. And I'm sorry. But I've been pretty busy. Who knew grad school would be so time consuming? So here's a recap of what I've been up to in the past month. 

1. Went to Spain for the first time! My friend Liz and I travelled to Madrid to visit my friend Caitlin for a week during Sukkot break. On the way there, we had a day to explore Vienna. (Elliot was very jealous that I was going back to "his city" without him. But I got him chocolate, so it was okay) Liz had never been to Vienna, and being the cantorial student she is, I planned a musical day for our first trip (we also had a 12 hour layover in Vienna on the way back to Israel). We saw the Opera House, Stephensdome, Kartnerstrasse (the main shopping street), and toured Haus der Musik (the music museum). We had Italian for lunch and kept using Hebrew instead of German to talk to the waiter. Caitlin met us at the airport in Madrid and we went home and crashed. The next day Liz and I went to the Prado museum (which was the only really touristy thing we did during our stay). Friday night, we went out to dinner to celebrate Caitlin's birthday before going out. It was a late night that ended with churros y chocolate at 330am. Saturday was round two of the birthday celebrations, including tapas for dinner and Spanish drinks (i.e. mojitos) for dessert. Sunday we went shopping. I haven't really gone shopping since I got to Israel and Caitlin had birthday money to spend, so we went shopping. Monday Caitlin had work in the morning and the evening, so we slept in and went to dinner late, but in the middle of the day we went walking around exploring Vienna. Tuesday Liz and I ventured to Toledo for the day by ourselves to see the Jewish quarter. We got there and back without getting lost or speaking any Spanish. It  was quite an adventure. Wednesday we flew back to Vienna where LIz and I walked through the Nashmarkt, hiked at Schubrunn, and meandered around the Manner chocolate store before grabbing some dinner and catching our flight back to Israel. We landed and had Shabbat to catch up on sleep before starting school again on Sunday. 

2. The fall term officially started. And now I have school, without any more breaks until December 27. It's gonna be a long two and a half months. Taking 10 classes is just as overwhelming and daunting as it seems. I'm still trying to figure out how to best manage my time. But now that midterm season has started, I just hope to get enough sleep at night. 

3. I'm playing basketball regularly and learning how to play the guitar. Because I think I have free time that needs to be filled. We play basketball once a week at the local park. There's a group of regulars who are definitely getting better each week. To bad the student-faculty game at the end of the year is soccer. Once a week I'm also taking guitar lessons from my friend Adam. I won one lesson with him from a silent auction and he said that if I bring food, he would be willing to teach me each week. And then two more friends wanted to join. So we have a nice little club. Still trying to figure out our regular meeting time, but I'm learning how to play the guitar. I know five chords and a strum pattern--now we're just working on putting the two together and changing chords seamlessly. 

4. I went home for a weekend. Yes a weekend. Elliot's sister got married and I flew in for the wedding. I got to Michigan Friday morning. Elliot met me at the airport with open arms. We got coffee and went to help set up the sound system at the venue. Then we had some time to wander around downtown Grand Rapids before going back to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal dinner.  A delicious 5 course meal in the wine cellar of an Italian restaurant. Saturday Ell and I woke up and got breakfast at Panera. Three words: Pumpkin Spice Latte. How I've missed them so much. Then we went to the wedding, which was beautiful. Afterwards was dinner and dancing. The food was delish and at one point, Elliot jumped in with the musicians on Mari's violin to play. We left to head back to the hotel when the rain started. I hadn't felt rain in 3 months. It was wonderful. The next morning Elliot drove me to the airport to catch my plane to Philly to see my parents and sister. My aunt and uncle met me at the airport to drive me to Fox Chase where Dad, Em, Mom, and Grandmom were waiting for us. We spent a few hours hanging out and catching up. We exchanged the stuff I brought for the stuff my brought me to take back to Israel including two books and two winter jackets. (While it isn't cold yet in Jerusalem, the winters are rough and I want to be prepared). Then Em drove me  back to Newark airport with a stop at WaWa on the way for some dinner. I caught my flight and got back to my apartment at around 7pm for classes at 830 the next day. It was a whirlwind adventure, but totally worth it. 

5. If I haven't already mentioned it, school is really busy. In addition to school work, I am leading services on Sunday afternoon, am writing a speech about next week's Torah portion (VaYeitze), and am chanting Torah in two weeks. These are some of the required service participation we have to do as HUC students. I just smartly planned all of them to occur within the three week period of midterms. So, hopefully in two weeks, when all of this is over, I will have a little more free time. 

6. Another requirement of HUC's year in Israel program is a community service project. I am tutoring English to 4-6 graders at a nearby synagogue. We've only had our fourth session and the director is in the states for two weeks, so the volunteers are still getting used to the kids and how to handle our time together. But so far so good. I'm not sure how much English the students are learning, but my Hebrew seems to be getting a little better, which is always a plus. 

7. Elliot bought plane tickets to visit me over winter break! We were planning on meeting somewhere in Europe, but because of the way our breaks work, we would only have had time to see each other for a week. However, Elliot is coming to see me, so we get like 2.5-3 weeks together and I can't wait. 

8. Coming up: Chag-o-ween (HUC's Halloween party), Women of the Wall's 25 Anniversary Rosh Hodesh celebration on November 4 (let me know if you'll be in Israel to celebrate), Thanksgivukkah (Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fall on the same day this year--naturally we're having a party), and my Service leading stuff. 

Stay tuned and Shabbat Shalom. 
10/25/2013 09:58:54 am

Sarah, You could probably find something to do at night. All you have to do is give up sleep. Seems to me you don't need much. I get exhausted just reading your blog. Hope you are staying well. Please take care of yourself. Pop and I send you all our love!!!!!

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