Part III Check-in

This week marks the beginning of Part III of OTZMA, which is the more “professional development” part of the program. Rather than be scattered in small towns all throughout Israel, the group has now been split into a community in Tel Aviv, a small group down on a southern Kibbutz, and the remainder in Jerusalem, which is where I am. From now until the end of the trip, we will all be working in various internships at non-profit organizations. I will be working at the Jewish Agency in the Partnerships division, where I will be working on an upcoming international conference as well as doing some work with social media (which is, as you’ve noticed, something I’m quite familiar with).

Our apartments here are really fantastic – maybe even the nicest that OTZMA has ever had! We are living in the student dormitories in Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus, which is about a 30-minute bus ride from the center of town (and my new office). All of the new Jerusalem residents were taken aback by how nice the apartments were. We’ve been fully equipped with new couches and chairs, a large kitchen space with four gas burners (Sidebar: This is the first time I’ve had an apartment here where I haven’t needed a match to light the stove), a full size refrigerator and freezer, and plenty of cupboard space. In our single rooms, we have a full-sized mirror, a good amount of shelves and hanging space for our clothes, a very large desk, drawers, and another large amount of shelf space. Currently, I’m sitting at our kitchen table looking out of the full-wall windows on the beautiful Hebrew U quad.

The apartments are meant for five people, but there are four of us living in my apartment – Jeremy (from San Francisco), Ari (from Milwaukee), and Alex (from New Jersey). All four of us were already very close – Jeremy was my roommate during Part I in Ashkelon; Ari and I were very active in BBYO at the same time in high school, and he was also a member of AEPi while at Wisconsin; and Alex is a recent graduate from Wash U, so she and I have been able to bond over shared St. Louis experiences.

Andi is also living in Jerusalem, but I’ll let her fill you in on her side. Needless to say, we are all very excited to be living here in Jerusalem, for our upcoming internships, and for our great new living spaces!