Yesterday we had orientation on the Bar Ilan Campus! Exciting, I know... To be back in a school environment for the first time in four months and one week. First we were talked to by Rabbi Kahn- the Head of Overseas Programming at BIU, and our Head of Education. Then we took a Hebrew Language placement exam, and I was placed in Level 2. We'll see how that goes. The only thing that really means is that I don't have class until later on Sunday mornings than the Level 1 students. That's not really the most important thing to me, so for now I'm just hoping that it's a good level for me... We'll see how it goes, though. Afterwards we all took walking tours of the campus in order to get a little more familiar with all the buildings and everything. If I may say so myself, one of my areas of expertise in life is getting to know big campuses very quickly. Which has proven to be an awesome talent that I am quite appreciative of. I guess it all just has to do with my sense of direction.
Anyways, after the walking tour they brought us to where all the restaurants are-- across the street from campus. I got a Schnitzel Lafa because it was a really good price. After I finished eating I felt totally disgusting because of the ridiculous amount of oil involved. I made a new life plan for myself so I'm going to share it with you all... Only one schnitzel/lafa, from a restaurant, per week. At the most. My eating habits since I've been here have been rather gross, so with this new start of school marks the time when I get back into my healthful eating groove. Thank G-d for consistency. Haha.
After lunch we headed back from BIU to where we live, and had the afternoon off. I took an absolutely beautiful nap for a couple of hours, and woke up in time to get to some more orientation in the big dining hall. We learned about our Insurance. What did I learn? I'd say that my few takeaways were that I need to drink a lot more water than I have been drinking, I shouldn't partake in "hazardous activities" such as Bungee Jumping because I'm not covered, and that I really should try to not need a root canal while I'm here. I learned other things, but most of them were just common sense.
We had a big dinner together, but it was dairy so I couldn't really eat so much. I had a nice little avocado and tomato sandwich, some salad, and a little bit of pasta. It was pretty good, I just kinda wished that there was more food I could have eaten. It's all good, though. After dinner we had the classic Shabbat and Kosher introduction/speech, then we were released to prepare for our shopping trip. Everyone who did Early Start already did this shopping trip to the big food store and Home Center so I really didn't need anything. I bought some apples, frozen schnitzel, and pretzels. I was rather impressed with the number of things and amount of money that some of the people spent at these places... No further comments on that issue, haha.
When we got back from the store I just hung around campus, talked on the phone, and talked to some of the people who were hanging out outside of my building. I went to bed at 12ish and got a solid seven hours of sleep in prep for day one of real school.
As I mentioned before, it's been about thirteen weeks since I've been in a real school environment so it was weird actually sitting through my first class. I guess I should first mention that there was a bus that is supposed to come at 7:40 every day, which gets us on campus by about 7:55. At that time we head to the synagogue, which is about a two minute walk from the gate, and we have Shacharit or a different tefilah option until 8:30. The other two options are to either sit and read a Jewish book, or to participate in a conversation about tefilah with one of the Rabbis. I chose tefilah, and it was nice. It is most definitely an abridged version for the sake of time, which I'm really not used to, so we'll see how that goes. After tefilah I went to my first class, which took place in the Midrash- building for women's Jewish learning. My first class was called Barren to Baron, which is about Jewish women in the Tanach. I really enjoyed the teaching-style that Mrs. Tannenbaum uses, and I liked the topic itself as well. I also love how there's no homework or tests until the final exam in January. But honestly that's only something I enjoy because it means that I can take one more secular class that does give homework. Haha.
My second class was called Fundamentals of Judaism- Ramchal, and it's given by a man named Rabbi Meyer. For those of you who have had Rabbi Moskowitz as a teacher or know anything about him, he and Rabbi Meyer are so beyond similar it's unbelievable. If I hadn't seen that the person giving the class wasn't Rabbi Moskowitz I could totally have thought that it was him. So far I really like him, his teaching style, and his ideas so we we're doing well.
Then my secular classes began. First, I again had Rabbi Meyer for English Composition because I decided to take it instead of English Lit. I like writing creatively about fifty-thousand times more than I like writing papers based on reading. And so far I like his style, so I thought it was totally a safe bet. He began the class with, "I'm willing to bet that almost all of you hate writing..." which made me feel like a person, like myself, who enjoys writing, will do well. We'll see, though.
Then came Psych with Rabbi Kahn's brother Dr. Kahn. It was a good class, but it seems like it will be better in the future. I'm really looking forward to it, though, because I love psychology stuff and he seems like he knows what he's talking about. The only thing I'm a little fearful about is the amount of reading... But for now I'm motivated and wanting to learn, so I'll make it happen.
Finally I had Statistics. This was actually the easiest class I've ever in my life sat in on... The teacher, Dr. Beck, repeated himself like fifteen billion times because people didn't understand what he was saying. Problem was that he was discussing the simplest of probability issues, so I was basically dying in my chair because I wanted so badly for him to just proceed. It's all good though. I like that I have a little bit of an easy class as my last period on my last day of school for the week... It's a nice and easy way to wind down. It might get harder, but for now it's my easiest.
Overall, I really had a great day of classes! I enjoyed getting to know the campus a little more, and meeting new teachers and classmates.
More to come later, but ta ta for now :).
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