LDS

I have caught the JC LDS. Last Days Syndrome. So sentimental!!!

We love JERU

Ramadan makes it so our favorite Old City food places close. But they do make tasty Ramadan pancakes. 

long long day of shopping. Notice: The amount of shopping bags Dev has

just a few souvenirs. 

Dead Sea mud exfoliation

My family night group is the best ever. Probably because they had such great parents (aka me and david)

real life family love

7th floor lawn. This is where we watch the sunset, play games, star gaze, etc. 

ode to finals

I wish I could be playing in this beautiful city right now. Instead, I have to study for a field trip final. I want to be spending my last week playing and taking it all in...instead i'm getting ready for tests! The only thing getting me through is the final 5 days of FREEDOM I will have after school is all done. High five for the first person who can spot the Jerusalem center in this picture!

Galilee Pics!

I'm too busy to write a good post, so here are some pictures of my last week in Galilee.

Becca, Laura, Steph, Em, Rachel, and Meg after dinner one night

Me and Becca at Gamla.

me and laney on top of a mountain in Gamla

me and Meg at church in Tiberias

Just the cenotaph of Maimonedes

Hey thats Lebanon behind me!

Galilee was great. But I am so glad to be back at home in Jerusalem. We enjoyed swimming, dancing, and just being together. I love this place and the people I was able to share it with! Driving up to Jerusalem and seeing the Dome of the Rock and the familiar arches of the JC was such a great feeling. I think besides my home in Bountiful, no other place in the world has ever felt so much like home to me. There will always be a million great memories associated with this beautiful building on top of Mt. Scopus and I can't believe I will be leaving it so soon.

Here is to finals, shopping, playing, eating, and a fabulous last two weeks in my new favorite place in the whole world.

only got 4 minutes to save the world

Actually it's four weeks, to save the world. I have four weeks left in Jerusalem and it hurts my heart.

We went to some ruins of Herod's temple yesterday!  

these rocks Steph is standing on are remnants of the temple that went tumbling down!

me and steph standing on the steps that went up to the temple. Christ would have walked these steps many times. I walked where Jesus walked! So cool. The steps that aren't all chippy are the original ones! 

me and David at the dome!

devery, me, and maddie at the dome. 

 I love the dome of the rock. There's something about its shiny gold dome that can be seen from all over the city that just makes me happy. Temple Mount is so clean, huge, and beautiful. I could just stay there all day.

met these cuties in the city this week. They didn't speak any English, and obviously I don't understand Arabic.... but we loved each other.

you may not know but these shadows do spell out JERU. dev, me, analise, and dwight

me and analise watching the sunset. we love sunset club. We dont love sunday night concerts that don't allow us to watch at our normal 7th floor lawn.

love this girl. 

pics of Jordan taken by miss Stephanie Merrill

4th of July in Jerusalem!

The fourth of July was a weird holiday to be away for. At first, I was a little homesick about missing the Eaglewood fireworks and traditions with family and wonderful neighbors. All the students dressed up in the most patriotic things we could find and decided to make a good day out of it! Unfortunately, we had CLASS in the morning. Who does that? They don’t give us Israeli or American holidays off? I’m gonna take my concerns to the boss. After we survived class we went to Hezekiah’s tunnel! We went there for a field trip recently, but this time we decided to do it with no lights! It was super scary at first, but really fun! We sang God Bless America, The Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, and I’m Proud to be an AMERICAN while we walked through the pitch black tunnel. I couldn't even see Analise in front of me, but we talked and sang and it was nice to know she was there! (I could probably use that in a church talk). It was such a blast. 

For dinner, we had an American BBQ! It was so good. Hamburgers, corn on the cob, ice cream, apple pie…so good. We listened to an American playlist while we ate outside. After dinner, we had a center activity where we played games in our family night groups while we listened to more American music. Sister Ludlow made a delicious cake and we sang the Star Spangled Banner and lit sparklers for candles. I’ve honestly never been more proud to be an American. Being away from that lovely country reminds me why I love it so much. I even got a little emotional and nostalgic thinking about how much I really love America. As sad as it will be to leave Jerusalem, I’ll probably recite the pledge and sing some American songs once I land in NYC (in just about one month L). Naturally, every party at the JC turns into a dance party. So we danced the night away and then went outside to catch some fireworks! (fireworks happen in the city just about every night, but we were grateful to see them on the 4^th!).

It was sad missing traditions and just being in America on the fourth. But… I think we found a pretty memorable way to celebrate here in Jerusalem.   

tradition!

The Ludlow family made a goal to watch the sunset every night until we all go home :( So I decided to do it with them. It's one of the greatest things ever. Some fabulous pictures of the events are on:

theaveragejoeinjerusalem.blogspot.com

tel-aviv today and jordan tomorrow!!!!

i love my life

I love my life. Plain and simple. This past week has been crazy. We’ve had field trips, adventures, and a little bit too much studying. It was finals week here, so a lot of days were spent inside the center studying. It’s hard to study when Jerusalem is right outside your window. Now, finals are finished (except one paper….) and the stress level in the center is a lot lower. I think we tend to make each other more stressed out than is really necessary. Some finals were failed, others we’re barely passed…but they’re over and we’re happy. Now we only have two classes for the rest of the time here, so we are going to live it up every minute. The best part about finals week was getting a little too silly and also having a lot of deep conversations.

On Monday we went to Hezekiah’s tunnel! It was definitely my favorite field trip so far. We saw some ruins around the City of David and then got ready for the tunnel! We saw a movie in 3D and it was super cool because I already learned a lot about the reasons for the tunnel so I felt way smart. Then we went underground and walked in some freezing cold water (FELT SO GOOD!). We turned off our headlamps and tried to go without light, but we kept bumping into the walls and each other and it was so great. At the end of the tunnel we got out to the Pools of Siloam. This was the place that Christ healed the blind man. On our way out we walked up another tunnel (without water), which had some original steps that Christ would have walked on. I walked where Jesus walked!

On Tuesday I took and failed an Israel test. YAY! and studied forever and ever for old testament. Wednesday I took an old testament test. Thursday...I can't remember what I did, probably studied. and on Friday I took another test. 

Tel-Aviv tomorrow and Jordan on Monday!!!!! 

me and the roomies missing annie :( in front of al-aqsa mosque!

me, nate, and maddie gettin ready for hezekiah's tunnel!

maddie, beccca and me rocking the head lamps inside Hezekiah's

maddie, nate, and me at the pools of siloam!

these pants and this fence are my favorite colors.

welcome to my world. this is right inside Damascus gate. I walk this everyday! love love love it.

a few quality pictures

just because its finals and i havent been doing anything of interest (sleeping and studying), I figured I would add some old pictures because my mom LOVES pictures. 

me and kenz under the center signing our names! this was before we were bff's.

the roomies at arab night. we are so funny.

me and dev have kinda matching dresses! 

I LOVE DEVERY AMUNDSEN

cherries in turkey

annie is the best part of this pic

john schmidt concert with ian, dwight, dev, me, melinda, and aj

maybe i'll do something fun once i write a final paper and take my last test.

best roomies

There is no question that the girls of Apartment 311 are the best, most beautiful, amazing, kind, generous, and fabulous girls in the center. Not to mention the smartest and most stylish.

1. Lane. The one standing next to me. I feel like Lane is my older sister. She has the best advice, and knows everything about life. She's hilarious, and she loves Futi (her BF almost fiance). She's always up for adventure (I mean she's moving to Italy in January...that screams adventure). She is nice to everyone, so outgoing and so fun. I love LANEY!

2. Annie. Annie loves red white and blue, scarves, naps, writing, laughing, blogging, cats, pictures of cats, apple juice, pb&j, etc. Annie is the best. She's always happy and just seeing her can make your day, it makes mine. I'm developing a nice Chicago accent because of this girl. and, we're living right by each other in the fall.

3. Steph. I met Steph one day in Emilee Crowder's living prophets class. I thought she was way cool, too cool for someone like me. Little did we know we were going to Jerusalem together and that we would be roomies and bff's here. Steph is an incredible photographer. She's always happy, she dances in random places with me, and we stay up late either laughing or deep in conversation.

Basically, these are the best roommates ever. We love hanging out (apparently thats a rarity here. Nobody else loves their roommates as much as we love each other....seriously though).

happy flag day from the jc students! (we love and miss america). 

pictures

On Sunday we went to Eliat! We got up super early and drove to the Red Sea for snorkeling! Confession: i'm afraid of fishies. So I went snorkeling once and then just loved playing on the beach!

 big group playing in the red sea!

michael, angela, and me

david cramer....

 after snorkeling we got dinner and ice cream. don't worry, my blonde hair never fails me. I got an extra cup of ice cream for free.

steph michael and annie

 On Monday we went on a field trip to a biblical wonderland. We got to herd sheep (harder than it looks)!

 We made pita and lentil soup!

beka, becca, meg, and me making pita

 Yesterday I had two tests. ANE and Hebrew. I kind of love Hebrew a lot. After finishing those we NEEDED to leave the center so we explored the Jewish quarter for awhile. Look at that donut. SO good.