About six months ago, I turned twenty. When the clock struck 12:00, I was sitting on the floor of Ben Gurion airport, guarding my friends’ luggage and messaging with my boyfriend on WhatsApp. Four hours later I was watching the sun rise from the airport in Istanbul. By that evening, I was back in the Netherlands, enjoying birthday pie in my aunt’s living room.
The months since have been no less hectic. Maybe that’s the reason I haven’t written here- too busy with love, school, family, work, friends, and an Etsy shop to run. But I think the real reason is that, for the first time in several years, I was so blissfully happy that I didn’t want to tear myself away for one second. For the first time since I came to college, I felt like I had found my place. I had my own room, more chances to study what I wanted to study, more opportunities to do what I wanted to do on campus, and, best of all, a real group of friends with whom I felt at home.
I won’t bother to go back and rehash everything I’ve done since I’ve left Israel – not only because it’s uninteresting to read in one go, but also because I don’t have the energy to relive the last six months of my life. I’d rather focus on what’s going on with me now.
After a long winter break spent both back home in New Jersey and the Netherlands, I’m back at school and almost done with my first week of the spring semester. My class line up looks really exciting, but German has become mind-numbingly boring. The similarities between Dutch and Deutsch were enough to keep me entertained last semester, but now I can understand everything that’s being said (“Who is wearing purple shoes? What is Anna wearing?”) and still lack the verbal skills to say everything I want to (“Anna is wearing a sweater with a weird oil stain on the sleeve”). It doesn’t help that every lesson is taught straight from the book, a personal pet-peeve of mine.
There is one other exciting piece of news- I’ve been accepted to Oxford to study in their Visiting Scholar Programme! I’ll be away for a year, which means plenty of time for culture freak-outs, nostalgia, travel, and exploration – my favorite fodder for this blog. I was born in Oxford, back when my dad was a PhD candidate there and his book was “the other baby.” I’ll leave you with the wonderful words he put on Facebook the morning I found out.
