Time to hit the books
September 11th-14th
I decided to combined all these days because they aren't particularly exciting. I spent many hours in class and even more hours studying for said classes. We started three new classes this week and each of them requires a lot of reading. I have been struggling a lot to keep up with and retain the reading. I feel like my mind and body are still adjusting to being in a new country while i'm also being overloaded with 15 credit hours worth of work in 8 weeks. So far the hardest semester study wise, but that's what i signed up for. I definitely didn't prepare myself mentally for the brain power and patience it would take to get through classes. Hopefully this next week i can get into more of a routine and find a good study group. The thing that makes it really hard is that the classes are not on a set schedule. Some days we will have one class for two hours and other days it will be at a different time for an hour. In the end all I want to do is go out and explore the city and talk to people about their life story, not sit and read about archaeology.
I am taking a total of five classes right now. Old testament and Ancient Near Eastern studies are taught by professors called from BYU to teach at the center for a year. Our Palestine, Israel, and Arabic teachers are all locals from near Jerusalem. It is really cool to get so many different perspectives on the history and cultures of the area. Our Arabic teachers is Hilarious. He basically said the point of his class is to have fun and gain some knowledge about and basic vocabulary of the Arabic language.
Brother Skinner, the assistant director of the Jerusalem center, gave a forum address Wednesday night and explained the history of the Jerusalem center. It really is a product of miracles. I am extremely blessed to be here.
Thursday night we had tryouts for the informal talent show. Since i am a member of the show Committee i got to be there for all the tryouts. It is amazing the talent that this group has. I really wish i could take them all home with me and put on musicals. At the very last minute we got a group together to sing One Day More from Les Mis. It is going to be such a great group number! I also decided to sing Journey to the past from Anastasia. A song I've been dreaming about singing for years. I was reminded this week of just how much i love music and how important it is to my mental health. Singing is such a great way for me to relieve stress and emotions and just find Joy.
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