Monday, January 18, 2010

the gardens

Corina and me looking at the city from Orson Hyde Park
The private Garden of Gethsemane that I think they only let us students go intoThis is from the Mount of Olives (I live down the street) looking at some Olive Trees and the Old City as the sun started setting. LOVE IT!
I cannot believe that these beautiful and sacred gardens are just down the street from where I live! Am I the luckiest or what?

i can't believe i just walk around the Old City

This is Marissa Purser and I looking at the view of the Old City. Marissa is also from Murray and is a year above me in school - so we knew of each other and have the same groups of Murray friends...but I didn't really know her that well before. It has been fun to have at least one person I know here!This is the road right as you walk through Damascus gate, the gate we go through most often. This is a HUGE pile of different seasonings/spices with a little Dome of the Rock thing on top - can you believe that!? I've only had this stuff called Zatar on my bread...tasty stuff!
On our first free day (Sunday) we went on the Ramparts Walk, which is where you can walk on top of the wall surrounding the Old City. It really helped me figure out how the city is divided up into the different quarters. It took a while to walk around it all, but it is fascinating to see the city and everything surrounding it from up above.
This was just a hallway outside of the temple mount...neat
I'm sort of obsessed with the Dome of the Rock.
It is GORGEOUS!haha Peace in the middle east!
haha these guys were intense!
In front of the Western WallAnd these beauties were in West Jerusalem - the more modern area. haha Too bad they are both right feet...
I still can't believe that I'm really here! Seriously this is amazing and I am loving every second!

Well here I am...living in the Holy Land!

I left on Jan. 5th for the Holy Land! I was one of the lucky groups that had to meet at the airport around 8 - rather than 4 like some of the others - pshew! Glad I dodged that bullet. Praise you Delta. It's funny because we left later, only had one lay-over in JFK and we actually got into Jerusalem before any other groups! Spoiled? check.
The beautiful building with the arches is where I eat, sleep, go to school, church, fhe, forums - everything! Isn't that gorgeous!? Sorry the picture isn't fantastic...it was taken at night. But really though.
Here is the main entrance. They built the Center to be like temple quality - so true. It feels amazing in there and is gorgeous!
Room 411 - home sweet home.
You walk down hallways with little openings outside to get to each of the rooms.
This is our view of the Old City from our porch :)
The Jerusalem CenterSunset and the view of the Old City from the Center
My roommates Corina and Emma - They are SO great. We get along really well and they are always making me laugh. They are so fun to be with and are way easy to talk to. I'm really excited to get to know them more!
haha no big deal right? Just a street sign where I live. Hebrew, Arabic and English :)
I LOVE it here!