Finally finally done

So.

This past week was my first final week of graduate school. One down, five to go.

It was a pretty intense period. The week prior to finals, the last week of December, I had a huge Ed presentation (on the "Challenges and Opportunities" of Jewish summer camping) as well as my Bible final - it was a ten-minute reading exam where we sat alone with the professor and read for him and then translated into modern Hebrew. And then he asked us questions about the text. It was actually kinda fun.

(Of course, between the last week of classes and finals was New Years. Amy, in her infinite amazingness, organized the HUC Prom. She rented out a kareoke bar neat campus, and for a cover it was semi-open bar, dancing, snacks, kareoke, party hats. Lots of fun.)

Finals week was a doozy. I had four exams, a paper, and a Hebrew Literature take home exam, all due within three days. Nuts. But all in all, I spent the weekend prior preparing and writing my paper (which was entitled "Constructing the White City: Tel Aviv as Physical and Sacred Space in Israeli Collective Memory." How's that for academic mumbo-jumbo? In actuality, it came out really well. I was very proud of my work and the ideas in the paper. It was fun, as well, to write a real academic paper again. I haven't done that in a while) and so the week flowed really well. I got to relax, spend time with friends and classmates before break, and enjoy some time in Jerusalem.

Then, Wednesday night, Tom and Emma came! They were just off a Birthright trip, and here to stay with me for the weekend! It was really great to see them and we had an awesome time. Thursday was touring Joel's Greatest Hits of Jerusalem - seeing sights off the beaten path, like Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Israel Museum, Tmol Shilshon, Babette's Waffles. Friday we went to the Carmel for the weekend, and toured a bit around Haifa, went to some artist's colonies, Ceasaria, Tel Aviv. It was a lovely weekend. Emma left last night for home, Tom this afternoon for Paris.

And in a few hours I'm off to Europe as well. I leave early Monday morning (my time) to Madrid, with my friend Jason. We're in Madrid three days, and then head off to Barcelona for another three days. Then I go to Paris where I meet up with Tom and Dana (who's working on his PhD in Paris for the year), and we're there four days. Then we visit Tom's uncle Bruce and his partner Roland in Amsterdam for two days, and then I fly back to Tel Aviv. After a few days, Tom and Dana come visit me. The party never ends.