First Days

Today was great. We all woke up early and went to breakfast followed by some more orientation meetings. When that was over we went on a walking tour of the old city Jerusalem. It was quite a trip and it was so much fun! We learned a lot about the history and culture of the people there.
At one point in our trip we went to the top of a building that over looked the city. It was so neat to look out over the city. While we were looking at the city they gave us some of the local bread to eat and everyone really liked it.
While walking through the city I noticed that it was really trashy. There was garbage everywhere. It was kinda gross for the “Holy Land” if you ask me. Lol. We didn’t really get a chance to talk to any of the natives or learn from them, but from what I understand we will have a lot of opportunity to do that, and I am excited for it. Tonight we had a short class period and figured out our travel group plans. We will travel in our religion class groups. During the class we did a get to know you thing and it was really fun and funny. We had people telling all kinds of interesting facts about themselves and doing impressions. I was laughing so dang hard I could hardly breathe. When that was over me and Taylor went and studied a classroom so we could be ready for class tomorrow. When we were done studying we tried to get some people to play some games but we failed. Lol. I did however sit down with my new buddy Jon and played guitar. We had a few different people come stop and sit down and listen to us. It was a real blast having a group of people that appreciate music sitting down in a small circle enjoying the original creations, their composers, and the composers’ performance of them.

It is pretty sweet over here. The center is an awesome feat of architecture. I love just walking down the halls... and cart wheeling down them! Lol. We have been to the city twice now. Yesterday was pretty chill. The city was pretty bare and no one was really there, but today since it was Friday was crazy! There were tons of people because it is Friday (day before Sabbath) and praying day and Ramadan (Islam people fast till dark and pray in the city all the time). Needless to say it was pretty wild and i spooned with a few people just walking down the street (and I didn’t like it. Haha.) Some of the girls in my group got their butts pinched and groped when they were walking through.
I walked to the city with Megan, Lizzie, and Haylie. We had fun looking through the shops and becoming friends with the locals. We talked a lot with the shop owners and they really liked us. Some of them gave us free stuff. We got some free falafel balls and free dried fruit. It was neat talking with them and getting to know them. Most of the shop owners are SALESMEN! They fit every profile assigned to sales people. They do the friendship close, the urgency close, the sincerity close, name dropping, etc. they are pretty good. Haha. It was annoying some times because the girls couldn’t always tell them no, so i would have to "save" them. Haha.

Yesterday while we were walking up to the city we were just walking along and then all the sudden some old man turned from the side walk and started peeing on the wall. Haha! I also noticed that it was pretty dirty here. There is garbage everywhere. :P gross.
I have taken very few pictures till today but I started now. It’s fun because there are so many sweet things to take pics of... I think I took like 6 pictures today! A lot huh? Right. Haha. But seriously I will take more soon.
I am super nervous about the classes because they are SOOOO demanding. One class we have to read like 60 pages of our book a day and other classes we have to read like 30 pages of scripture a day. It is insane. I think my GPA is going to take a HUGE hit this semester. Sad. I have made so many friends so far. Everyone is so nice and friendly. Everyone gets along and has so much fun together. I love it! I know that some of the friends i am making now will be great friends for a long long time. =)