You'll notice that it auto-plays the song "Sa'a Saba'a" by Melhem Zein. Get used to it. I went to a lot of trouble to get new background music, as my old gadget is no longer available and others I tried didn't work. If you don't like it, hit the mute button, because I love it.
You'll also notice that the background is a picture of Jerusalem. You cannot see the building I'll be living in, nor can you see the mountain it's on. The Center is the picture behind the title. My new blog title is a play on my old one and my twitter handle, "Haole in Lā'ie." For those who do not know, "Haole" is a sometimes unkind nickname for white people in Hawaiian and Laie is the town in which the BYU-Hawaii campus is located. The description underneath is "Savanna goes to Jerusalem" in Hebrew and then Arabic, as translated by Google Translate.
On to the interesting things.
Now that I've ended my services at Synergy Health, I will be spending the remainder of the year sleeping, mostly. Also on the to-do list is to clean out my room, box up a lot of clothes, and start packing. I'll be gone for 4 months (Jan-April), beginning on January 7th with my flight from SLC to NYC and finally to Tel Aviv, so it would probably be a good idea to leave my room clean. I'll only be home for the summer before returning for my final year at BYU-Hawaii.
My itinerary includes field trips within Israel, as well as a week in Turkey and a week in Jordan. It's all mapped out across my 16 weeks abroad. We'll be going everywhere that's anywhere, from the Dome of the Rock to Petra. Specifically, as I scan the program highlights, as follows. Israel: Negev, Jericho, Shephelah, City of David, Yad Vashem, Mount Herzl, Neot Kedumim, Separation Wall, Bethlehem, Kotel Tunnel, Jewish Quarter, Christian Quarter, Galilee (Jordan Valley, Jezreel Valley, Sea of Galilee, Golan, Mediterranean Sea), Dead Sea, Masada, Ein Gedi, Qumran. Turkey: Istanbul, Bopshorus, Troy, Ephesus, Bursa. Jordan: Mount Nebo, Madaba, Petra, Amman.
There's a pretty good chance that y'all haven't heard of those places. That's alright. I'm determined to document all of my travels through journals and type them up for you here. Internet on campus is allegedly very poor, so any photos will be uploaded from the free wi-fi hotspots and/or internet cafes in the area. Text posts and emails, though, I should be able to send from the library on campus (I hear there is no wi-fi on the residential floors).
My classes are all geared toward religion and history (for obvious reasons) and are as follows: Ancient Near East 336, Palestine 347, Israel 349, Arabic (I was given the option to choose Hebrew or Arabic, I chose Arabic), Old Testament 303, New Testament 311, and Field Trip Class 395R. I think that my favorite class will be the field trip one.
My expectations are extremely high. I'm anticipating this being the most religiously? spiritually? emotionally? enlightening experience of my life. The places I'm going to see are places that far fewer people have the opportunity and means to see, and they're also places that hold great meaning and significance not only to myself but to millions of people across the globe. I'm really freaking lucky. As they're all on the 300 level (excluding beginning Arabic), I'm expecting my classes to be very in-depth. The best part of class will be going out and seeing what we've been studying and experiencing it in a way that can't be compared to videos or textbooks. If you watch the video on the Jerusalem Center website, it shows footage of the building. The cafeteria looks 500x nicer than the caf in Hawaii. The rooms also appear to be bigger and nicer than those in Hawaii. Also, I'm pretty stoked to have a patio overlooking the Old and New Cities. The view will definitely beat that of my last dorm room, where shutters blocked almost everything from sight (including sunlight) but did not mute the noise of the boys walking up and down the stairs on their side of the hale. I've really missed being in such a religious environment, with 80+% of students being LDS, devotionals, teachers adding in scriptural references, and my on-campus ward. It will be nice to slip back into that atmosphere that the Church Educational System brings, and go to Forum Addresses, which I assume are like devotionals.
Quite a few things will be different. For starters, the Sabbath is on Saturday in Jerusalem. Church services will be held on Saturdays and I don't know what we'll do on Sundays. Treat Sunday like Saturday? I feel backwards just thinking about it. I don't know what to expect with the food. I'm guessing in the Center they won't have rice available for every meal and they'll never serve kalua pork, loco moco, nor chicken katsu. I miss chicken katsu. I do know that it is very difficult to find vegetarian food everywhere with all the traveling we'll be doing, so I've been eating more meats than I have in a long time just in case, to prepare my stomach.
If you thought abiding by the dress and grooming standards in the Honor Code was hard, try this. No skinny jeans. No capris. No pants cuffed at the ankle. Knee-length shorts are only allowed inside the Center in the gym or in your room. Cargo pants and cotton/cotton blends are strongly recommended. No bare feet, except in student rooms. All shirts must be loose-fitting. No tanks, cap sleeves, or short sleeves. Collars have to be at least to your collar bone. Skirts and dresses have to reach mid-calf at least. Covered is the word. Frumpy is the other word.
Finally, for those curious, the Center's website has a video tour. Skip ahead to 4:13 if you don't want to heart the schpeel about BYU Provo. Click here to watch or copy the url: http://ce.byu.edu/jc/video.php. If you would like to come in contact with me over the next few months, the best way will be through email. My school email is real classy: grego8@go.byuh.edu. Feel free to bother me to update the blog if I ever start skimping.