News.

Guess what?
I can post!

Actually, I've known I could since I got here. I've wanted to catch up on my time here, though, and I'm realizing I never will. Don't worry; I'm thinking of something to write and will write something cool here soon.

Suffice it to say that living in Jerusalem(!) is more amazing than words could possibly describe. The Center is in the Palestinian part of the city, so I'm getting to know their culture and loving every minute. The Old City (the traditional, walled part of Jerusalem), too, is beyond gorgeous, with narrow limestone streets lined with hanging tapestries and carts of food. Women covered from head to toe in dark robe outfits line the streets, and I can see orthodox Israeli men with forelocks and kippas, traditional Arab men, Armenians I don't know much about, or devout Christians depending on what quarter of the city I'm in. The whole scene looks like it comes straight out of Aladdin (which is actually the name of our money-changer, but you pronounce it al-adeen'). My classes are awesome, and my professors are absolutely brilliant. Being in the Holy Land with expert scholars as professors makes everything fascinating. I only wish I knew more. Many of the students here are majoring in Middle Eastern Studies, Ancient Near Eastern History, or Arabic, so I feel like I should know a lot more than I do. I feel like one of them would if they came into my molecular biology class without any background. Names, dates, and linguistic and ethnic divisions are talked about as if we should already know them. I'm not used to being in a class where the professor asks a question and the entire class (except me!) can say the answer in unison. I toured the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a classmate who explained the sequential changes in architecture and what they would have meant to the different religions that claim space there. I've never understood the motivation behind majoring in a qualitative discipline, but I'm coming to appreciate the things they learn and esteem them as I do my science background. I can already tell that this experience is going to be extremely intellectually expansive. And imagine spending a full semester with the same 79 classmates! We live, eat, tour, and study together, and I can already tell that we're going to be great friends.