Photo by the author.

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until January 2.

Yitzhak Rabin is Israel’s John F. Kennedy: a fighter for change, a symbol of hope and an assassinated national leader, forever engraved in national memory as a pioneer for peace.
On November 4, 1995, Rabin was murdered by Yigal Amir, a radical, religious Jew.  Amir [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until January 2.

“It’s the sixth of November and I’m sun tanning!” my friend Ria exclaimed yesterday as we set between falls on a rappelling trip in the Judean desert.
We’d traveled with a group of international students to rappel hundreds of feet down jagged dessert cliffs in Qumran, the area [...]

Recently it’s felt like terror threats are the default explanation for everything in Jerusalem.

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until January 2.

After two months in Jerusalem I just finished my first week of class.  It’s weird to throw a batch of new classes into my comfortable routine here.  What’s weirder is that that the university is no longer ruled by the international students.  All summer we’ve felt like [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until January 2.

I spent the last week of my three week break between summer language immersion and the start of the semester on a 7-night cruise to Greece, with a big group of friends from school.  To say the least, we were not the typical passengers on the boat.  [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until Jan. 2.

My Facebook news feed has informed me that a lot of Americans (or at least the ones I’m Internet friends with) don’t think Obama deserves of the Nobel Peace Prize.  After traveling in Cairo this past week, I’d argue that the optimism of the Egyptian people [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until Jan. 2.

If there’s one thing Israel’s terrible at, it’s coming to consensus. There is absolutely no national consensus about what the right direction for the country is politically, socially, economically and so on. Rather, society is defined by a multitude of schisms — Arab versus [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until Jan. 2.

I’ve set out on a mission to dress more like an Israeli. Believe me, this has nothing to do with any killer sense of fashion I’ve observed here. Rather, my pursuit stems from a desire to fit in. It’s not as though I’m [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until Jan. 2.

It’s a big deal when major concert tours come to Israel.  Flights are expensive and there are hardly enough fans to fill one performance.  Madonna’s show two weeks ago is still hot conversation.  Madonna, an ardent student of Jewish mysticism Kabbalah, has visited Israel before to [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until Jan. 2.

Yesterday was one of those days that makes me feel really lucky for the opportunity to travel and be in Israel.  We had a field trip in Ulpan in the morning, which was a much-needed break from the daily grunt of five hours in one classroom [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until Jan. 2.

The biggest adjustment to life at Hebrew University has been how much independence is required of students here.  The majority of non-international students never even live on campus.  It’s great to live in the Student Village (Kfar HaStudentim, affectionately known as the Kfar) where students are [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until Jan. 2.

I’m beginning to feel like I didn’t make studying abroad out to be a big enough deal in my head.  I’ve been to Israel every year for the past six years, for some period of time between 10 days and three months (not to mention three [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until Jan. 2.

After spending my first weekend off campus and out of Jerusalem, I’m beginning to feel like life in the gated Jerusalem University is not quite reflective of life in Israel.
I’d initially worried that I would be surrounded by Americans in my dorm and in classes.  However, [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until Jan. 2.

As part of the intensive Hebrew language program, Ulpan, that begins my semester abroad, I’m taking an elective class about advertising and commercials in Israeli society.  In the past two sessions, we’ve looked at the changing role of the soldier in Israeli commercials.
Today, my teacher showed [...]

Zoe will be in Jerusalem, Israel until January 2.

My Northwestern friend Danielle Borschnack and her sister Melissa have been keeping me company throughout my first week in Jerusalem.  While I’ve spent long hours in class, they’ve been bouncing around the country, hitting the major sites.  Fortunately for me, there is no class on Fridays, so [...]