A few days later...

Wow. So much has happened, and yet when I think about it, I haven't done anything so different than other people who go to school in a new place, which is a majority of you. Except, of course, go to Israel. But ya know.

The flight here was fairly uneventful - aside from the fact that I almost didn't make it on since my ticket seemed to have been left at home (*coughMOMcough*). After she rushed back to the airport in record time and we said a tearful good-bye, I ended up sitting beside Amy Manusow from Winnipeg. We found out that we both live on Waterloo though in different provinces. These things amuse me. :)
There were 15 of us Canucks on the group flight, from Toronto, Winnipeg, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver. All really nice, and I enjoyed getting to know them - though I ended up sleeping for most of the flight.
We arrived, and after some bag mishaps (not mine, thankfully) and luggage-struggling, we got onto the bus which took us directly to our dorms - it was about 7pm Israel time by then. My friend Elana Anzel-Sivkin and I were going to room together, but the assignments were already done. They ended up putting people from the flight together, so I'm with the Winnipeg girls - Amy, Steph and Faren, and Aviya arrived the next day. Our sixth roomie (if we have one) is a mystery. We're in building 40, room 7, which means it's 7 short flights up - each building is narrow and rectangular and has one apartment in each corner. Amy and I live in the first room together (we seem to be put together a lot), Faren is in the second room with a so-far empty bed, and Steph and Aviya are in the third. We have 1.5 bathrooms, a kitchen and a tiny blancony-type thing. It's pretty grungy but it's really nice at the same time - largely, I'm just excited to be in Israel and living on my own. The roomies are great - I'm a bit worried since they all knew each other before and I'm the outsider, but they're friendly and a lot of fun, and I'm sure it will work out wonderfully.
I'll write more soon - ulpan (intensive Hebrew class) has begun, I've gone out a few times, and run into a bunch of people who I knew before, as well as met some other amazing ones. Details to follow.