Hitting the Books

Ulpan today was terrific. I feel really comfortable speaking Hebrew there because everyone in my class is at my level. It is all somewhat exhausting becuase even during our breaks we speak Hebrew together as it is the most convenient way to communicate with people from such diverse backgrounds. Today we did all sorts of things in class - reviewed how to conjugate particular verb groups into past, future, and turn them into gerunds, practice masculine and feminine nouns, read two poems and a story, etc. We're working out of two books. One I used last year so there will be some review for me, but I think it is a review that I could use... and the other is completely new.
I didn't find my German friend again today but I did make friends with Paola (from Italy) and Paul (from Holland), as well as Sam (from England, has been living in Israel for five years). Paul sat next to me and we worked together when we were supposed to work in partners - he seems quite nice and hopefully I'll get to talk to him at greater length tomorrow. He is here for the whol year, as is Paola, with whom I spent both of my breaks today. I was super excited about how well we were able to communicate in Hebrew, and I invited her to my birthday party (a potluck dinner at our apartment on Aug 14 - be there or be square!). She seemed excited about that.
I attended a really boring orientation where I realized that it will be a very different experience living off campus than most of my classmates will have on campus, where they will primarily participate in a social life based around campus activities. It will be harder for me to get to these activities and Daniel won't be allowed to participate in all of them, so I don't know if I'll be involved with extra-curriculars or how involved I will be - especially if I'm busy with Yung YiDDiSH, or with the Interfaith Encounter Association. That's OK though - I think my experience, different though it may be, will certainly be just as rich and rewarding, and I'm glad to get tastes of all sorts of different worlds in Jerusalem.
I've decided to try to read only newspapers or books to study for the GRE II in English, and not read English language novels otherwise (this will be a big challenge for me!) Instead, I'm hoping to force myself to read in Hebrew or Yiddish as much as possible this year. To this end, I've been reading articles from the Yiddish Forward, very slowly with the aid of a dictionary, and today I checked a young adult novel in Hebrew out of my school's library and I'll try to struggle through it. Wish me luck.

Beginnings

This morning I took the bus from the stop around the corner from our apartment (which of course I nevertheless had trouble finding and had to ask for directions) to Hebrew University, and made my way to the international building. Groups of young people swarmed around the building, speaking in French, Arabic, Spanish, German, Italian, and English - and probably some other languages as well. After some mulling about, we were led to the building where our summer language classes will be held, and assigned to our classrooms.
There ar 15 students (roughly - I may have missed someone) in my class. Two are from Italy, one from Canada, one from England, five from France, two are Arabic speakers from Jerusalem, two are from Russia, and two (including myself) are from the US. This means that we can't cheat at all and translate words into English because not everyone speaks English.
We have two teachers - one in the morning and one in the early afternoon (class went until 3:30 today but will ordinarily go until only 1:30). Both of them speak pretty fast and class was pretty intimidating - but I do feel that it is basically at the right level for me, which is good. The bookstore is currently on strike so we couldn't buy the books for the class, but otherwise there seemed to be no kinks at all - and we covered a lot of ground! We reviewed verb groups, masculine and feminine nouns, we read a passage about choosing a name for the state of Israel, and we learned a song.
During one of the breaks, I made friends with a girl from Germany who is studying here for a year. At home she studies Christianity, but she is here to study Judaism. She is in the same level of Hebrew as me, but she never has taken a class in it - she's learned it all from books and tapes. We had a whole conversation in Hebrew - she speaks English but would prefer to practice her Hebrew. Most people seem to be living in dorms, but this girl (whose name I already forget) is living near me and taking the same bus as I am to school. We were about to exchange cell phone numbers but then had to go back to class - I hope I find her again tomorrow so I can invite her over for dinner or something and get to know her better!
Otherwise, I've been meeting other folks left and right. Daniel brought me to HUC yesterday where they had a variety show and silent auction/live auction to benefit the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism. It was great to get a chance to meet all of the people Daniel is going to school with - they really welcomed me with open arms and I look forward to getting to know all of them better. Daniel performed The Raven and it was, of course, astonishingly good. Daniel is impressing me left and right with his ability to speak Hebrew, navigate Jerusalem, etc. He is practically a native already.
It's hard to believe this is only my third day here - I feel like it's just been a whirlwind of activity and new experiences. It's been fun but I'm also looking forward to a time when all of this has settled down and feels a little less new and a little more comfortable and sort of ordinary.