Since then I’ve been having a MUCH better time here. I’ve been going out and more and trying new things. It’s making the experience a whole lot better. So, the best piece of advice I can give anyone planning to go on exchange: Whatever opportunities come your way, take them on!

My sister had arrived and we had a great time here. I really felt like I was at home and she was a guest in my city. It was a nice feeling. I showed her many attractions and told her the little I knew of the history of Manchester.

We also travelled during my week off – Paris, Cologne and London. It was an amazing experience and very exciting. You see pictures and films with the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Big Ben… but when you actually see it for yourself it really takes your breath away. I was so in awe of the beauty of it all.

I have since returned to Manchester – simply to finish an essay.     Not to worry! In about 2 weeks I am heading to Barcelona. (Gotta remember, I’m here to study – not travel.)

PS. I try to put up pics, but I can’t. Im sorry. You’ll just have to visualise it all.

It is by far the best concert that I have ever been to.

After a one hour sherut ride from Jerusalem, we were in Tel Aviv. And what were we there for? To see Idan Raichel – the musician who has captivated audiences in Israel and worldwide. With his characteristic dreadlocks draped over his face, the audience went completely crazy the moment he stepped out onto the stage at the Tel Aviv opera house.

I was one of the many people in that audience who was completely blown away by the magic that was his performance.  His music is a distinctive fusion of traditional Hebrew texts, as well as traditional Ethiopian and Middle Eastern music.

After the concert was over and we had devoured a frozen yoghurt to celebrate our post-concert bliss, we saw him, the man himself! I shook his hand and told him that I loved his performance.

As the mumbo jumbo came out of my mouth, I continued staring at his dreadlocks in an attempt to imprint this moment in my memory for all eternity. My friend was in complete awe and mumbled something entirely out of character. He politely thanked us.

Golly Gee, what a night!

I think it is brought out more by the fact that my sister should be coming soon. I can’t wait to see her. I have set aside seeing the tourist attractions of Manchester, just to save it for when she arrives.

In the meantime, I am only really studying, enjoying weekends and planning future trips over Europe.

Last weekend I went over to North Wales – Chirk Castle and Erddig. Chirk castle really was beautiful, the most stunning feature of the place (to me) probably being the library, with the oldest text dating back to 1513! Erddig is a “house” although it feels like an enormous mansion. The best parts were probably these rusty old cars that I so love. (I was going to add a pic for any car enthusiasts, but it’s just not working.)

Overall a good day!

After 7 weeks of non-stop Hebrew lessons and 3 weeks of holiday, I am back to speaking English in class. After being forced to use my poor language skills out on the Jerusalem streets, I can now string sentences together and read all the road signs.

My grammar is still terrible, but the words are starting to make more sense to me. Sometimes, I can even hold a small conversation. Whoohoo!

I’m taking an Ancient History class on the Second Temple Period and am well and truly excited. The Western Wall, an important religious site located in the Old City of Jerusalem, dates from the end of the Second Temple period, being constructed around 19 BCE by Herod the Great.

Should be good fun! Can’t wait!

The Western Wall

Oh American football. I don’t understand you at all. But you have marching bands and dancing girls, chants, half time shows by tiny little cheer leaders and football players from elementary schools, television screens that tell us when to cheer and when to be quiet, concession stands, a million varieties of Cal Poly t-shirts and did I mention the marching bands? So how can I not love you?

So I went to my first Cal Poly game last night with my housemates and some of our neighbours. My regular interpreter, my housemate was working that night but thankfully I had help in the form of a plethora of other Americans to translate what on earth was happening on field. Including the importance of waving one’s keys in the air at each kick off (I just made that up, I don’t actually know when one is suppose to do that). But it is a real phenomenon. When we arrived we were given t-shirts. For free! So now I have an official Mustang Maniacs shirt to wear to all my Cal Poly events in the future. Yes, I am pretty excited about this development.

This is the back of my Mustang Maniacs shirt. The Mustang Maniacs are the official Cal Poly spirit group and are astoundingly enthusiastic. So enthusiastic that they appear to be completely unaware that their official team song makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If you can translate this song for me I would be much obliged.

My favourite part of the game was the Cal Poly Marching Band (aka The Pride of the Pacific). They dress up! They march! They do formations! They have baton twirlers! They play stirring music! Hilarious. After marching around the field a few times they hang out in the stadium and play music at pertinent moments in the game.

The various permutations and combinations of cheer leaders were great too. There are two kinds. The cheerleaders proper who are uniformly short, uninspiring, chaste looking, wearing cutesy white bows in their hair and turtle neck tops. Turtle neck?! What?! Their counterparts are the Cal Poly Dance Team. The CPDT are lithe and sexy and fun. They’re like the disowned older sisters of the cheer leaders. I suppose I just included this because I never imagined that anyone other than the cheerleaders would be the girlfriends of the football players. However, in San Luis Obispo I think it is far more likely that the quarterback dates a member of the Cal Poly Dance Team.

From the Central Bus station in Jerusalem, we took an hour long shared-taxi ride to Tel Aviv followed by a picturesque train journey to Haifa. I had Bernard Fanning’s Tea and Symphony album playing on my iPod the entire way.

We, like many others, had come for The Haifa International Film Festival, which takes place every autumn during the week-long Sukkot Holiday in Israel. An uphill hike up Mount Carmel will bring you to Cinemateq; one of the main venues of the festival.

There are gold stars with Hebrew names scattered all over the ground. It shouldn’t surprise you that the Israeli Beer Goldstar was one of the sponsors for the event.

The mood was really festive and I heard splatterings of at least a dozen different languages within 15 minutes of my arrival. I caught the Gala Premier of The Informant starring Matt Damon, and Israeli Director Amos Gitai’s Carmel.

Clad in black throughout the multi-layered movie, Amos Gitai appeared at the start and the end of the screening of Carmel. He answered questions regarding the film and took time to answer but since most of it was in Hebrew, I could barely understand what was going on.

We caught a Beatles tribute in a garden just near the Cinemateq and it was wonderful hearing the good old tunes my father used to play when I was growing up.

Haifa is also by the Mediterranean, so I had a fantastic time at the beach, playing with the serene blue waters. Kudos to that!

            Here we are at a Manchester City match:

The atmosphere was amazing, especially when they scored the winning goal in overtime. 

Roaming the empty streets, I was wondering what in the world had happened to the Jerusalem I had come to know. Not a single car was present on the normally noisy streets, and even the entrance to the usually maddening loud Jaffa Gate of the Old City became a hush.

Due to cultural sensitivities, I restrained myself from taking my camera out for the day. As no buses were running, I took a long leisurely stroll from Mount Scopus to the Western Wall where hundreds of people dressed in white were gathered to mark the end of the 25-hour fast.

Conveniently, the clock went back an hour just two days prior to give the appearance of a shorter fast.

It really wasn’t.

But come 8 o’clock, there were throngs of people everywhere that were eating too much, drinking too much and celebrating the end of the Day of Atonement. After a massive dinner at a restaurant in the Christian quarter in the Old City, I jumped in a cab and made my way home.

Till next year I suppose, till next year…