A New and Different Year

By Alisha Deluty
KOC Editor
JTS / Columbia University

Last year at this time, I was getting ready to start my sophomore year of college in New York City. And now, as my junior year of college is about to begin, I am thousands of miles away from New York in a different country and on a different continent. I am not only trying to master another language, but also make my way on a new campus, meet many different people and get used to life away from the comfort of my family and friends.

This said, I am already starting to feel at home here at the Meonot Gimmel dormitories of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be'er Sheva, where I will be spending the fall semester. Although Be'er Sheva is a developed city, it is certainly not New York. However, Be'er Sheva offers me something that I certainly could never experience in New York. Here in Be'er Sheva, I am living and studying at the same university as Jews, Arabs, Christians, Bedouins, Druze and Ethiopians. As I walk in the hot sun through campus, I feel at home amidst this group of individuals who are so different from each other, yet are all here together at the university.

It is still so surreal for me to think that I will be living in the Negev for the next couple of months. My room is smaller than I expected, but I am quickly getting used to it. The dorm complex has a laundry room, a few computer labs, study rooms and a small grocery store. We are across the street from the university and hospital, a five minute walk from the train station and a fifteen minute walk to a larger supermarket. The campus is rather large and has something that I am not at all used to—many palm trees! In addition, cats run freely, just as squirrels do in the city. I am starting to find my way around campus and have already been to the library, a few of the cafeterias, the student center, as well as different buildings. I am in the middle of my ulpan (Hebrew language immersion) class, and for the first time ever, I am taking a class that is entirely taught in Hebrew. In addition, I cannot believe that I can see the desert from campus and actually be standing in the middle of the desert after a twenty to thirty minute drive. As I hiked in the desert at night a few days ago, I felt as if I could really touch the moon and the stars as the wind was blowing in my face. I certainly could not have had this magical and almost mystical experience anywhere else besides here in the Negev.

I am looking forward to this new and very different school year. I hope you all have a great year and b'hatzlahah (best of luck) in school, whether you are at home or abroad!

[Posted 8/31/08]