יד ושמ

let's seee... thursday, i went to bezalel again to register for classes. for some reason, they didn't realize that they had to set aside an allotment for the study exchange students because guess what?! there are no classes for us. so i had to beg and plead... actually, i had to be really stern and tell the photo secretary that the only reason i'm at bezalel currently is to study pure photography and if there are no classes, my time and money is being wasted for nothing. after i said that, she gave me options that i could look into. for a full semester of classes i need a minimum about 12 credits. i have 9: israel: place & culture; collage; art & activism; documentary workshop; and the sea, the mountain, and that in-between. that last class should be interesting. it is a friday class, which is kind of unheard of in israel since it's the start of shabbat, and it is a 6 hour class. oh well. i need at least four more credits in order for me to get full credit from SMFA. argghh.

after all that israeli bureaucratic nonsense, sarah, suley, jonathan and i went to the יד ושמ (yad veshem), the holocaust memorial. it was super intense and depressing. the exhibits were laid out really carefully and it was done well. they brought back a piece of the ghetto and recreated a scene around it. they also had original torahs that were saved from the burning synagogues. the museum is located on mount herzl, which is incredibly gorgeous and the memorial takes up most of the mountain. it's freaking huge. we're going there for our culture class so hopefully i get to see more of it.

today, friday, i wanted to go to the שוק to take advantage of the low prices. however, i was beaten with hail and torrential rain. it's been raining and thundering nonstop. i hate it but it's good that israel, or jerusalem, is getting so much water... to somewhat alleviate the water crisis. and my umbrella broke. later, i hung out with arielle and lisa. their suitemate, liran, is really funny and cool. his friend, edad, is like a super gentleman. he also happens to be a bartender and recommended a drink that i should try called martini biano. or i think that's what he said. it's a really smooth drink that should be savoured, not devoured. i liked it. afterwards, we were feeling a bit hungry so edad took us to this arabic food place. i got something called malewach, which consists of a flat bread (reminds me of naan) that is smothered in choice of hummus, tahini, sour cream, or cream cheese. then you get a boiled egg, chopped tomato, some spicy concoction, salt, pepper, za'atar and olive oil. OH MY GOD. it is super awesome. i got hummus, tahini, and cream cheese on mine with an egg... it just melts in your mouth. kind of like a sauce burrito but not really. kind of amazing. ahhh. i really should go to the gym if i keep eating street food. dammit. oh well.

classes start sunday. ahh!