Desert Desserts



Me and Emma coping the lose at the Sukkot celebrations

Mostly to get this over with, the BYU vs U of U football game was really good, but kinda bad, and bit ugly.  It was very nostalgic to see ESPN’s pan of the rabid crowd, and I even spotted a few friends of mine.  Though it was a disappointing loss, it was such a fun morning.  I say morning because a few fans woke up at 5:15 am to watch the game live.  We had quite the following around 8:00 am, but the dedicated few stuck it out even in the wee hours of the morning. It was a really fun atmosphere to be here with BYU students who were kind of wishing we were there in the midst of the craziness.  Then BYU lost, and we were all glad we could cope by going out into the city.

                                                                                       Sorry Provo fans. 

In more happy news, I now find myself touting an adorable camel leather backpack.  It’s super chic, and much more fashionable than the gigantically enormous backpacks given us by the program.  I wondered why they gave us such large backpacks, then our textbooks and packet readings were distributed, along with a 2 liter water bottle. Oh, that’s why I could almost fit inside of mine. I often don’t use that backpack because I feel like if I put something in there, I’ll never find it in the dozens of cavernous pouches and pockets.  I also thought that 2 liter water bottle was ridiculously huge, but I have found myself emptying that baby by the end of our field trips in the various arid deserts that are everywhere in Israel. When they say desert, they mean it.

Jewish Quarter-Super cool to pass mosaics like this all the time:) 

 To my horror, my camera battery burnt out.  Super convenient, because we go to cool places basically every day.  Luckily my friends are the best and play awesome photographers.  I was cameraless for 2 whole days, which was a huge bummer.  Props to my parents and my dad’s research skills- My dad referenced me to a place in West Jerusalem and they had one battery left that fit my camera. One left.  I snagged that pricey little purchase and happily captured the Sukkot celebrations on our walk home.  So it ended quite well, especially when you toss in the fact that buying a powdered sugar covered fig cookie also got 3 cute American girls 2 taste tests of a crumbly cinnamon coffee cake and a delicious honey cornbread like sweet.  That man just earned himself 3 very loyal customers for the next 3 months.

Some really cool highlights of the past few days have been to a fascinating visit to the Israeli Museum to see King Herod’s tomb, the Dead Sea Scrolls and a field trip to Jericho.  And by last few days, I mean today and yesterday.  It’s a busy ship here in Jerusalem.  The museum is a must see if you are in the vicinity.  After 5 hours, we didn’t even see the Fauvism/Expressionist wing which was a bummer.  Thank heavens for season passes to art museums, right?  And why not throw in a visit to Jericho while you’re at it.  On the way, be sure to visit King Herod’s Winter Palace and try to replicate how cool this picture is.  Good luck.  My favorite part about Jericho (minus the religious significance, of course) was the spring of living water, which coaxed Heidi and myself to roll up our jeans and take a quick dip while the professors sorted out scheduling. 

Said picture to 'beat", Herod's Winter Palace.  (Try, but you'll fail) (And apologizes for the lack luster quality- we didn't want to totally blind the public with our awesomeness)

So apart from a couple of hiccups this week, everything really ironed out.  I’m lucky that a replaceable camera battery and finding more desserts I love are my biggest concerns here in the Holy Land.  Let’s hope that continues, as midterms are right around the corner.  How bad can they be when you factor in the fact that we go to Turkey as a post midterm celebration?