…specifically Ramat Aviv, a suburb of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv University spans 170 acres of the small suburban town with its shopping malls and family homes. Despite being away from the city, it is very easy to get into town center. You take the 24 or 25 bus for about 30 minutes and you’re there. As a student, we get discounts using a Rav Kav (similar to Clipper Card in the Bay Area) in which you can load and reload money. The system was a bit confusing at first, especially since the website is only in Hebrew. I finally deduced that there are a couple of different options for students. One, you pay a monthly flat rate to use the card an unlimited amount of times (only worth it if you ride the bus 8 times or more a week). Option two, you pay upfront and get a third of the cost off. For instance, 75 NIS for 50 NIS. Within walking distance, there are buses and trains that will take you pretty much anywhere in Tel Aviv. Last weekend I took a train to the central bus station in Tel Aviv where a bus awaited that goes to Jerusalem (and you pay for it all using Rav Kav)! Though I have explored Israel a bit, I’ve spent the majority of my time since classes started in my room reading. I live in the Broshim dorms, which is housing reserved for graduate students and their families. It is one of my favorite places I’ve ever lived. Broshim dormitory is more like a complex of studio apartments than dorm rooms, fully furnished, full size refrigerator, stove top, and bathroom all to myself. (I'll have to post some photos in the future of how I personalized this room.) There’s a gorgeous lawn and pond in the center of the complex. Some other residents of Broshim and I had Shabbat dinner there, enjoying one of the last of the warm summer nights. I cannot stress enough what a gift it is to be surrounded with such a diverse group of people. In addition to my fellow Conflict Resolution Master's program students, I also get to interact with the students from the International MBA, Archeology, Security and Diplomacy, Trauma and Crisis Management, Middle Eastern History, etc. programs who also live in Broshim. I've met people from all over, including China, Austria, Lithuania, Switzerland, Ghana, and New Zealand. Hearing about their experiences adds even more to this eye-opening adventure. For instance, I was talking to a man from China. Growing up under communism, he glorifies the US. He believes that cultures are always evolving and the natural spread of Western culture through globalization is a good thing, even peace-promoting. Maybe he’s right, but what price are Americans paying by being part of a hegemonic culture? The common language between all of the international students is English which, as a native English speaker has its pros and cons. A pro is I can go almost anywhere in the world and be able to verbally communicate with almost anyone. The con is it makes it really challenging to immerse myself in a new culture and learn a new language. Though I know basic reading, writing, and speaking in Hebrew (and am taking a class as well), I find my go-to when I'm out in public is "?אתה מדבר אנגלית" (Do you speak English?). Perhaps it would be easier to pick up the language and culture if I was surrounded only by Israelis who don't speak English. I have gained a huge respect for people who do not speak English and move to the US or another English-speaking country because chances are they won't easily find someone who speaks their native language and are forced to learn English in order to communicate. Yes, it is stressful at the time, but they gain a really useful skill. I know people here who speak four or five language fluently because they moved around the world! So as an English-speaker, I am being humbled and challenged in completely new ways. When I am accustomed to being of the dominant language and culture, how do I intentionally immerse myself into Israeli life? The closest I've come was a yoga class I went to last night. It was taught only in Hebrew and I felt completely out of place...so it's a good start. תנשפי ,תשאפי (breathe in, breathe out). I am so happy I chose Conflict Resolution and Mediation at Tel Aviv University. Everything about it has been an amazing experience so far. Our program director and coordinator are the most organized people I’ve met and have given us endless resources to aid in the move to Israel. Orientation was last week and, if it wasn’t for their Google Calendar, I would have probably succumbed to my jetlag and slept through it. On days Thursday and Friday, my cohort and I went on a trip around Israel. It was dual-narrative themed, so we had one Israeli-Jewish tour guide and one Palestinian tour guide. Here they are speaking about the conflict at the border with Lebanon. Syrian border at Mt. Bental. Nazareth And a city-turned National Park called Bar’am or Biram (depending on the Hebrew or Arabic pronunciation) that was once populated by Palestinian Christians before they were forced out by the IDF in 1948. I learned a lot about the political mess that has gone on in this part of the world for centuries. I also got to know the other 30+ members of my cohort who have come to learn with me. The exciting part is I felt challenged for the first time in awhile. We went wine tasting in the Golan Heights and on one side of me were classmates from England, Switzerland, and Belgium speaking French and on the other side of me were classmates from North Carolina and Canada learning Arabic from our bus driver. It is the most inspirational group I’ve been around in awhile. People from all over the world who, like me, are willing to leave their loved ones behind to experience new cultures. I feel very grateful to be here. Despite a myriad of poor reviews, I decided to take the chance and fly WOW Air from SFO to TLV. I purchased the "Plus" package, which included 1 personal item of up to 22 lbs, 1 carry-on of up to 26 lbs, and 1 checked bag of up to 44 lbs. All this for $350 one way. Not bad! I flew from San Francisco to Reykjavik and then Reykjavik to Tel Aviv with a total travel time of about 20 hours. The reviews I read told horror stories of last minute canceled flights, but both of the legs left on time and arrived early. I even got the chance to visit Keflavik, a small town outside of Reykjavik International Airport, during my layover. I arrived at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv at 4am, feeling exhausted (I don’t sleep well on airplanes). The public transportation in Tel Aviv is amazing! From the airport, I hopped on the Nahariyya train to Tel Aviv Universitiy station. The station is right across the street from Broshim dorms, where I’m staying, but there are 88 uphill steps from the train to campus. Everyone I talked to recommended that I take a bus, but I stubbornly refused. About halfway up the stairs, lugging my 2 bags and large suitcase, a kind Israeli offered to help me with my suitcase. He effortlessly heaved it on his shoulders and carried it the rest of the way. He asked, “What are you studying?” I said, “Conflict resolution.” He replied without hesitation: “You will learn very quickly that there is no solution but to fight them [Palestinians]. They want us all dead.” Welcome to Israel, I thought. 4/10/2017 To Open an Israeli Bank Account or to Not Open an Israeli Bank Account. That is the question.Read NowBefore coming to Israel, I considered opening a bank account here. After reading blogs and message boards, I decided against it. Everyone said it is a pain to open an account and they charge so many fees. When I started the program, a classmate confirmed it. He had tried to open an account on multiple occasions and kept being turned away for one reason or another. It seemed that no one wanted his money. Instead of opening a bank account in Israel, I opened a checking account with Charles Schwab. Their policy of reimbursing all foreign ATM fees enticed me. It has worked out quite nicely. However, last month I was awarded a scholarship through Tel Aviv University (yay!) and they require that I have an Israeli bank account. So I braced myself and went to the closest bank to campus where I knew they worked with students, Leumi, located on Brodetski. (Photo courtesy of https://whoprofits.org/company/leumi-bank) I went in on a Sunday around 2pm with all the appropriate documents: passport, another picture ID, and a proof of enrollment to the university letter. When I walked in, I asked the first employee I saw where I was supposed to go. He pointed me to a desk and said I didn't have to take a number, but just go to the woman behind the desk when she was finished with the client she was speaking to. I thanked the man for his time and grabbed a number just in case. I noticed that most people's numbers had an "H" on it before the number, but mine had an "M." After waiting for about an hour, I noticed that only H's were being called. I went up to a woman behind another desk and asked her where I should go. She said I had to come back the next day when the manager was there. I came back the next day at 9:15am and went up to the manager. She directed me to take a number and wait for the bank associate I had been directed to the day before. She was a tall woman in her late 20's with long dark and stylish clothing. After about 45 minutes, she was available to see me. The procedure went fairly smoothly. However, she was obviously frustrated that I was taking the time to read the contracts, at least the ones in English. She kept telling me, "Just sign it. All you need to do is sign it." Another strange part was when the bank associate asked me how much money I would be putting in each month. I asked her what the minimum amount is. She became defensive and said there is no minimum amount. Then I asked her if there were fees for going below a certain amount in the account. She either didn't want to tell me or didn't understand the question. The only information on this that I got from her was that it costs about 1 shekel if you go under. How often and what the minimum amount is, should would not tell me. Additionally, she refused to translate contracts that were in Hebrew for me and just expected me to sign. In terms of withdrawing money from the account, usage of a debit card is 8 shekels a month. Furthermore, to withdraw cash from a Leumi ATM costs 1.5 shekels. If I chose not to have a debit card, withdrawing cash from a bank teller would cost 5.5 shekels. Coming from the US where banks throw money at you to open new accounts, this set up seems ridiculous. An alternative bank that I did not find out about until after I opened an account with Leumi, is Discount Bank. (Photo courtesy of http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-norwegian-central-bank-buys-israel-discount-bank-stake-1001155621)
A friend told me that the reason Leumi charges so many fees is because they do not allow international students to open a student account, which normally waves petty charges. However, Discount Bank does. They charge no fees for use of a debit card or withdrawing money. There is a branch also on Brodetski, close to Tel Aviv University, but you must go to their main branch in order to open an account. I have heard nothing but good things about Discount Bank. After I made the decision to attend Tel Aviv University, my next step was to apply for a student visa. The description on the Israeli Consular department's website reads, "This visa is granted to those who want to study in Israel in elementary and high schools, academic institutions, yeshivot and youth institutions of the Jewish Agency. The visa is valid for up to one year and for multiple entrances and exits. Recipients of this visa are not permitted to work in Israel."
The Israeli Embassy is located in D.C. and there are Consulates located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco. Since I travelled around this summer, I looked into a couple of different Consulate department's procedures for getting a visa and they vary. For instance, some Consulates require that you show proof of housing arrangements in Israel, while others do not. Furthermore, the D.C. embassy requires that you come in to apply for a visa in person. I ended up going to SF where they allow you to either apply in person or mail in your paperwork. I opted to go in person because who doesn't love a trip to SF? My mom, a family friend, and I walked in a beautiful building in the Financial district of SF where we were greeted by a security guard. We arrived ten minutes before they opened and the security guard had us wait outside until they were ready. At exactly 10am, the guard let us in and asked for my passport. After several questions, he said I could go up, but my mom and family friend had to wait behind. It was a very easy process with little waiting. After going through security, I sat down with a woman who looked over my documents. There was a happy surprise when the woman told me, since I'm a Masa student (an Israeli government and privately-funded organization that offers students all over the world grants to study in Israel), I don't have to pay the visa fee. And then she sent me away (keeping my passport!) with the option to pick up my passport and visa in person or pay $15 to have them FedEx it to my house. Since I will never give up an opportunity to go into the beautiful city, I opted to pick it up in person. The SF Consulate website said it could take up to three weeks to get my visa, but I got the call that it was ready in only two days. I am now a week and a half away from embarking on my next adventure and I’ve been reflecting on my decision to go to Tel Aviv University for graduate school. Although I've wanted to go back to school for awhile, it wasn’t an easy decision.
When I first looked into graduate programs, I knew I had a proclivity towards social psychology, languages, and different cultures, but I had no idea how to culminate those interests into a degree. When I returned from my first trip to Israel at the end of 2016, I leafed through an Israeli graduate school brochure I had picked up at the Jewish Federation in LA. There were a couple of programs that sounded interesting, but I kept coming back to this Conflict Resolution and Mediation program. “You can major in that?” I thought to myself. I loved that it combined psychology with political science, sociology, diplomacy, and so many other areas of the social sciences. Not only that, but the classes, professors, and chance to live in a new culture thrilled me. The application process was fairly easy: application, letters of recommendation, official transcripts (no GRE, thank goodness). I was accepted in April and, although I was thrilled, the financial cost held me from making my final decision until July. I worked for three years at dead end jobs to save up the money I’m now using for my higher education, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted to part with that money. In addition, when you study in Israel under a student visa, you cannot work in the country, so there would be no way to support myself besides using my savings. A lot of doubt filled my mind. What if I can get a free education elsewhere? Should I defer a year in order to save up more? I kept waiting for a sign to appear that would make me 100% sure I was making the right decision, but it never came. I realized that, as long as I was paying for it out of my savings, it would never feel completely right because it is a lot of money and I know how hard I worked to earn it. At the same time, I couldn’t bear the thought of waiting one more year to go back to school. Would my savings better serve me sitting in my bank account or allowing me to have life changing experiences? So I accepted attendance to Tel Aviv University’s MA in Conflict Resolution and Mediation program class of 2018. This was an essential learning experience for me. Sometimes you need to make tough decisions in which there is no perfect solution. Sometimes you have to make the best choice with the information you have. There is privilege and freedom in being able to make huge choices that effect your life. Yes, that much responsibility can also be scary, but own your choices. It feels empowering to own them. It is a decision all your own and, whether the result leads to success or failure, at least it was your lesson to learn. You will have gained something for learning it. |
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