A Raging, A Rambling, A Rhapsodizing

Classes started yesterday, which was exciting! Ish. Exciting-ish. It was great because I don't have class until 12:30 on Sundays (which, okay, class on Sundays? Class on Sundays?? I still can't get used to it) so I got to sleep in a bit, although I was so exhausted last night after getting back from the Negev that I could hardly stay awake anyway.

The Negev was great! We went on a five hour hike along a dried out river trail the first day, which was also, incidentally, the day I peed outside for the first time in probably fifteen years or so. It was an exciting day, what can I say. The hike itself was very long but fun. Most of it was not too strenuous so we could look around at the incredible emptiness of the desert. Some of the views were absolutely stunning. At the end we basically climbed a small mountain and looked out over the most vast expanse you can imagine. We talked about the flash floods that can come through the area and carve out the rock formations you can see on the ground. At the top of the mini-mountain we saw the path of one of these flash floods, which ended in a waterfall. Right at the edge of the fall was this great tree (what is it with me and trees these days? Maybe it's because there are so few here!), all grown in funny angles and wizened and just stuck there, like no way was some flash flood going to get the better of it! Or maybe that's me doing that English major thing and anthropomorphizing. Whatever.

The second day was another hike, this time only three hours, about half an hour of which consisted of bug hunting. I stayed far away from that one, let me tell you. It was stupidly hot so I mostly hid in the shade while my fellow hiking people oohed and ahhed about a scorpion and a centipede getting in a fight to the death. Which is cool I guess, if the thought of scorpions doesn't make your skin crawl. The rest of the hike was good, we learned about porcupines and did a lot of walking in the sun. A lot. Boy am I sunburned. But it was good.

There was also a lot of eating, and the food at the hostel we stayed at in Arad was delicious. DELICIOUS. Man. I miss that food. We drove back in the evening, and I basically fell asleep as soon as we got back.

Yesterday's classes were...a mixed bag. My first class, Religious Trends in Judaism, was sort of interesting but sort of not. I'm not sure if I'm keeping it, although the professor was very nice and told some good stories. My second class was a required class for my internship (which is still, unfortunately, up in the air) and the professor, though nice, was really very boring. My last class though, was awesome! It's late, at 6:30, but I still think I'll keep it because my professor was engaging (and adorably British) and the class was by far the most interesting one I've taken. We'll see how it goes today, I have my children's literature class in Hebrew in about an hour. I'll keep y'all posted.