Bethlehem

Warning: This post has a ton of pictures! It is hard to limit myself to just a few when I have almost 200 to choose from. Sorry!

Our field trip this week was to Bethlehem, which I absolutely loved! Our first stop was at Bethlehem University, which was really interesting. They had a Christian chapel there which was gorgeous! After the chapel we had a question and answer session with a few of the students who attended Bethlehem University to find out what life as a student was like in Bethlehem. They talked about how difficult it was to deal with crossing the wall every day to get to class. It takes hours for them to get through and they all make huge sacrifices for their education. Personally talking to the students afterwards was so much fun because we realized just how much we had in common with these students from completely different backgrounds and how similar we all really are.

Chapel of Bethlehem University

This is Ramzi, he is hilarious and acts as my personal body guard most of the time. Love him!

Overview of Bethlehem from the campus

After the University we stopped at a Bedouin tent restaurant for lunch. Not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous when they told us we would eating in a legit Bedouin tent, and thought it was going to be kinda sketch but I was totally wrong! The food was super good, the atmosphere was awesome, and a million pitas later we were all stuffed.

After lunch we headed up to the old city of Bethlehem. Because Bethlehem is in the West Bank it is supposedly more dangerous and they brought along our security guards from the center to watch over us. The feeling I got walking around Bethlehem was anything but dangerous though. It was so peaceful and I loved walking around the streets, picturing Mary and Joseph making their way through the city trying to find "room in the inn".

Finally we got to the Church of the Nativity. This is the oldest operating church in the entire world, built in 326 AD. It has an amazing history and was built to commemorate the spot where Christ was born. The church is divided up into many different chapels, each run by a different religion, and they are all beautiful. My favorite part though was going into a nearby cave area and singing all of the Christmas hymns (Mom-I thought of you during "Angels We Have Heard On Hight". The spirit was so strong, and even though we likely were not in the same exact spot where Mary gave birth to Jesus, it was amazing to be within a quarter of a mile of where the Savior was born and to feel the spirit there.

The silver star, traditionally marking the exact spot of Christ's birth

The grotto of the Nativity, the spot where the manger stood

Manger Square

The room where Saint Jerome translated the bible

Singing the Christmas hymns

It was an amazing day and an amazing experience to be in the place I have read about every single Christmas Eve. Luke 2 will never be the same!

Lions and Tigers and Bears-Oh My! The Biblical Zoo :)

For our free day this week we went to the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem. I was rather excited about this, since I have not been to a zoo since my elementary school days. We may or may not have been the only people there who weren't under the age of ten or a chaperon. No shame though, it was awesome!

It turns out that the Biblical Zoo is pretty much the same as every other zoo in the world. Except for one thing....the ark! The entrance of the zoo is a massive Noah's ark, and yes we did go through it two by two

We had a great time wandering around, cracking jokes, and visiting all the different animals. When I looked through my pictures afterwards, I came to the conclusion that we may have spent more time mimicking the animals we saw than I had realized haha. For example....

( I told you the fish face was coming Emily!)

Stacey makes a fantastic baboon

Another unique feature of the biblical zoo is that they have priesthood blessing bears

(Haha I know picture may not be entirely appropriate, but I couldn't resist...sorry!)

It was so nice to get out of the center and spend an afternoon acting like a little kid again! One of the highlights of the afternoon was definitely the van ride home though. Our driver put on Celine Dion and Melissa and I put on the performance of a lifetime. I am pretty sure "My Heart Will Go On" and "The Power of Love" have never been belted like that before. The poor people who had to ride with us will never be the same again :)

City of David

I am back :)

I got the blog back up and running without even having to go to Hebrew U!

That is one of the benefits of having a really smart boyfriend

They can make your computer finally work and upload pictures from 8,000 miles away

(Thanks Paul)

Last week our fieldtrip was to the City of David, which is where Jerusalem really began.

It is over 3000 years old, and so much biblical history has taken place there!

Our day began with an outlook on the City of David to get a layout of the land

Next, we the watched the visitors center's 3D movie to introduce us to the City of David.

The only word to describe it was epic.....

Haha the 3D effects put Avatar to shame

It was hilarious

classic Craig 3D pic

The highlight of the trip was going through Hezekiah's tunnel.

This half-mile tunnel was secretly built by Hezekiah, starting from opposite ends of the city and working towards the middle, during the Assyrian's conquest of the city.

He built it so that the city could have a source of water during the attack and as a convenient means of escaping if things went wrong.

When we went through, the water in the tunnel only came up mid-thigh, which was nice because during the rainy season you almost have to swim through it.

We all brought flashlights, but at the last minute decided that it would be more of an adventure to go through the tunnel in complete darkness.

We were right.

It was pretty crazy, and so much fun, to trek through the water in the pitch black, feeling your way through the narrow rocky tunnel.

One of the students described it as

"the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland on steroids!"

So as you can imagine, it was pretty awesome!

In typical BYU J-RU style, a massive water fight occurred as soon as we made it into the sunlight and we all got completely drenched haha

Luckily I was barely tall enough to be let in

thank goodness for a flash!

After drying off slightly in the sun we visited the pool of Siloam, where Christ healed the blind man, the ruins of David's palace, another tunnel dating back to the biblical period, and the likely tombs of the Kings of Judah...pretty amazing stuff!

It was an awesome, very wet, field trip that I absolutely loved.

It was so cool to see the beginnings of my current home-

and where all its history began!

Internet Struggles....

Dear Blogging World-

I am sorry that I have been so MIA lately. I have a good excuse though- the Jerusalem Center internet and my blog have apparently decided that they are no longer friends.

This is rather unfortunate because their fight means that blogger no longer will let me upload pictures. As we know, a post without pictures is pretty much worthless, hence the lack of blogging.

But don't worry!

Luckily, I live right next to Hebrew University, whose internet connection is much easier to get along with.

So as soon as I get a chance, I will tell you all about my recent adventures-such as the City of David, the zoo, and Bethlehem- with pictures included!

Stay tuned :)

Why they call it "STUDY" abroad

Since coming to Jerusalem, I have had a startling realization

that they call it study abroad, because you actually have to study

they should change it to just "Go Abroad" in my opinion

cuz between studying for five tests

my 20 page single spaced paper (no joke)

quizzes every single day

and reading hundreds of pages in textbooks

I have not seen the city in days

not cool.

Luckily, the end is in sight :)

After this month, we only have 2 classes

so there will be more a whole lot more "going" and way less "studying"

Which I am quite looking forward to.

Cuz as crazy as it sounds, I actually did not come here to hibernate in a library

we have those in provo.

However, provo does not have this...

THE END

Eilat

Sunday morning we woke up at the break of dawn and made the four hour drive to Eilat...so worth it! The bus ride down there was probably the most entertaining one yet, complete with a hilarious game of truth or dare and a two hour long game of ipod karaoke. I have never heard so many fantastic renditions of celine dion, taylor swift, whitney houston, spice girls, or david archuletta in my entire life haha. Time definitely flies when you are watching all your friends make complete and utter fools of themselves and you join in the fun yourself!

haha i told you people got into it!

We arrived at Eilat in the early afternoon and naturally headed straight to the beach. Eilat is famous for its snorkeling, and we saw some gorgeous fish and coral reef. I may have had to constantly remind myself that I was perfectly fine and that my breathing was supposed to sound like Darth Vader in order to avoid freaking out, but I still loved it! The water was a beautiful clear blue and it was amazing to see the completely different world existing beneath the water. Plus, now I can say that I have been swimming in the Red Sea....pretty cool!

Liss, Stacey, and I in our super attractive snorkel gear

After snorkeling we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach trying to get rid of our tan lines, playing in the water, and walking along the pier. A pretty perfect way to spend the afternoon in my opinion :)

the best-smelling camel I have ridden yet!

For dinner we ate at the kibbutz we stopped at on our way home from Egypt. Since this particular kibbutz raises dairy cows, they have the best ice cream in the entire country. It tasted amazing after a long day at the beach, and was a perfect ending to our day trip!