End of Ulpan

This past Wednesday I woke up early in the morning, said goodbye to Joey as he left for the airport, and went to my last Ulpan class.  After doing review activities from 8:30-1pm, I went back to my apartment, ate lunch, and studied from 2pm-11pm.  And all for (drumroll please) my Ulpan FINAL!!

Yes, the end of Ulpan came and, while I was sad to say goodbye to my class, I was happy to have this incredibly intensive language program come to a close.  I learned more in these 4 short weeks than I ever thought was possible, and I had such a wonderful teacher and really sweet and engaging classmates.  Still, after hours of class, homework, and vocabulary memorization each day, a bit of a break is very welcomed.  I will be continuing with Hebrew during the semester, but it is only 2 hours each morning Monday through Thursday, which is far more manageable.

So, while I don't have my final grade back, I feel really good about the test.  I know that I worked hard and did the best job that I could have done.  It is a new feeling, being in a course where learning all of the material is neither expected nor possible, but I think I absorbed a lot and I am thankful that I had such a positive experience in the course.

After the test on Thursday, my suite-mate and I decided that it would be fitting to blow off some steam. Because of Shabbat, when the buses run on a strange schedule for Friday night and Saturday, Thursday is the night to go out.  Even though we were tired, we met up with her cousin and a friend of his and headed to a dance club.  There were separate boys and girls lines, which I had never seen before, but I was happy to be on the girl's side because it moved very quickly.  We went through security and bought a ticket before entering the club.  Inside, there were lights everywhere and many different rooms playing a variety of music.  We moved between the main room with techno-top 40 music and the hip-hop room (where they played a lot of English and Hebrew rap songs).  It was so loud and so bright and exactly what I needed to get re-energized!

The perfect 3am snack!

We arrived at the club around 11:30am, which is relatively early in Israel, and stayed out until 5am!  We danced the whole time and my knees were killing me by the end.  And, in the middle, just when we felt like we were fading, suddenly employees at the club come around with ice pops and the entire room stopped dancing to have a sugary cold snack break.  It was the funniest thing!  Anyway, after getting back to the dorm at 5am I was in desperate need of an ice cold shower, and after cleaning up and drying off I fell asleep around 6.  Then, I got up at 11am to go to the bookstore and library to find some reading materials for my study tour, which begins on Sunday.  The main point is, I had a blast, but I am exhausted so I will end this blog entry here and head to sleep.  Goodnight everyone!