Here is the stuff (written and video) from August 1, my first full day in Israel. The picture above is the view from my living room window!

Take a virtual tour of my apartment, recorded right after I got there for the first time!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLdhIx2zIqE

August 1 (first full day in Israel)

Points that stood out (for various reasons):

• ·Cats everywhere!
• ·A growing sense throughout the day that this apartment is going to ROCK!
• ·View of the Dome of the Rock from my kitchen, living room, and bathroom
• ·Finding out that the cluster of girls I met on the group shopping trip who were very sweet and made me want to be friends live in the apartment above me!
• ·Getting shamelessly and strongly flirted with by an elderly cab driver
• ·Upon finding out that my awesome boyfriend is not a barefooter even while I am: "That's so beautiful! You're, like, multicultural!" -My flatmate Sapir
• ·Feeling like I'm getting the rite of passage of an all-female college roommate experience I always thought I'd missed out on
• ·Running through 2 rolls of toilet paper in as many days (5 girls in the house!)
• ·Finding out that apparently for the next 5 months, I am not actually living in a country (that is, I live in disputed territory)
• ·The rooster who apparently lives somewhere nearby and crows throughout the afternoon
• ·"The French are not closed-off. They are selfish." -An elderly French fellow student
• ·My roommates getting such a kick out of the fact that I came so prepared, especially in regards to kitchenware

Low points:

• ·Getting hopelessly lost, causing me to miss about 25% of orientation
• ·Having no internet or cell phone connection
• ·Not being able to figure out how to turn the boiler on (=cold showers)
• ·Subsisting all day primarily off pretzels, peanuts, and cookies scavenged from my flight(s)
• ·The grocery store being closed when I finally had a chance to walk there in the evening
• ·Realizing that my power converter was incompatible with the outlets just a moment too late, and then spending several unfortunate minutes trying to pry it out without harm to either converter or socket (unsuccessfully)
• ·Finding that the travel toothbrush case I've been using for 4 years probably needs to be sanitized by opening it to discover that the bristles of my essentially new toothbrush had turned brownish yellow
• ·Sweating, sweating, sweating!