Transatlantic flights suck. Like, they are truly horrendous. It's really quite tempting to look and see how much extra it costs for first class for one of these flights. Especially since I will be making this exact flight over and over and over again in my future. Blech. Awful.
So I'm a light sleeper and the plane was no exception. I slept on and off the entire night. I think at most I slept like an hour or maybe two at a time. But I was lucky enough to sit next to Jared Colton so we already knew each other and didn't have to waste our time with small talk and passed out as soon as we got on the plane. I was rather amused, he was completely out before the plane even took off.
So after my longest stint of at least trying to sleep, I gave up and look out the window. A. it's daytime. Woo! B. We're passing over the French Alps. Umm... Gorgeous!!! We flew across France and over the city of Nice. I really want to visit there now. And if France wasn't gorgeous enough, Italy was magnificent. I've always wanted to go to Italy, but after seeing it from the sky, I most definitely want to visit it now. It was cool to see Rome, if only from a distance. Unfortunately I was so excited from seeing Italy that I passed out in the time from Italy all the way over Greece. :(
But it's ok. I find the middle east a small consolation prize for missing out on seeing Greece.
We got to know the center and it's absolutely beautiful. The center is so peaceful and serene. That plus the architecture and the interior are very well put together.
Yesterday was a nice get to know the faculty type of day. It was also a preview of the center and get us a little bit oriented with the place and the location. After running us constantly until 9 pm, they let us go and we all left. I got ready for bed and crashed promptly at 10 pm.
I woke up this morning to a nice dark room and while I was wondering the time, I hear something. It was the call to prayer. I had heard it once before when I had been unpacking yesterday, but waking up to it was amazing. There's something incredible about being in a half dream state and then hear something that lyrical and beautiful the first thing in the morning. I could definitely get used to this. And it was so beautiful. The muezzin had a lovely voice and he smoothly recited the adhan and then went on to recite some verses from the Qur'an. I roll over to check my watch... and it's 4:30 in the morning. Eew.
However, after laying in bed for another hour, I gave up and got ready. I haven't gotten up that early since seminary. That's just inhuman. However, I have jetlag to blame. So my day started and I realized that when I got up that a. I'm in Jerusalem and b. the city is gorgeous at sunrise.
I get going and we go and have a little bit of orientation before we go and have a tour of the city. The next four hours were spent winding our way across the city and around it. It was amazing being able to be in the city and I could actually understand people!!! I've been so distanced from arabic for the past few months that being around it again has been refreshing. Also I absolutely love my professor for Old Testament. His name is Brother Emmett and he's going to be my professor for Middle Eastern Geography in the fall. He is so much fun! He was my guide for the Jerusalem tour and it was pretty fun. He showed us some of his favorite places to go and he also showed us how to get around the different quarters.
We've spent the rest of the day just chilling and we also have some more orientation and getting to know one another. Today is also when I need to do some homework because tomorrow is my first day of class!!
It's all going so fast already. I can't believe that this is my 2nd day here. !الحمدلله
