-studied a lot; passed some exams!
-we started trying to learn clinical hebrew. i am in the beginner group with 2 good friends, also novices. our teacher is a 6th year israeli medical student and she is really nice.
-got to go on a weekend retreat with some other christians at my school to the galilee! it was so nice to spend some time looking into God's word, relaxing around a campfire fueled by palm leaves, and getting to know some of the first year students. also, one day we hiked upon mount arbel, which has a huge cliff overlooking the sea of galilee. then a few of us did some seriously muddy off-roading in a field with one of our rental cars and it was totes the funnest thing ever! then on the last day, those in my car and i one-upped any other possible thing that could be done by visiting an outdoor roman-era hot spring/spa facility in the golan heights called hamat gadar. it was funtabulous! they have waterfalls of hot sulfurous water that you can sit under and an extensive alligator farm!
-joined some of the visiting international undergraduate students at the university for a trip to the western wall in jerusalem to see the prayers of slichot which occur throughout the night before yom kippur. this is the biggest day for public prayer in judaism, seemingly especially among sephardis. the head rabbi of israel was leading prayers at the wall and there were tens of thousands of people fervently praying in their own unique styles. the university had also hired a guide who had many unique insights; we learned a lot about the themes of repentance and forgiveness in judaism, very interesting time.
-ran a nice 10km race in tel aviv in the night along with 30 000 other people, including about half of my classmates! lots of fun!
