After class on Thursday, Rachel, Hannah, Amanda and I bussed up to Jerusalem. The bus took about 2 hours but luckily I was able to sleep for most of it. Lots of soldiers were going home or to base. Once in Jerusalem, we tried to get a cab to Ben Yehuda Street but the cabbie wanted 40NIS (not ok) so when we said No Thanks he said we could go f ourselves. Lovely. Walking was better anyways because we walked through a market on our way and were able to pick up 5 rugelach for 4NIS (very ok). In Jerusalem we stuck mainly to Ben Yehuda Street and its surrounding area since we didn't want to pay for cabs or ride any busses. Turned out to be a good idea since some poor Italian tourist got stabbed in the back in the Old City that day. After we walked around a little bit we realized we should probably find a place to stay. Luckily, across the street from where we were then standing was the Jerusalem Hostel. 64 NIS/ night which was totally ok. There weren't any rooms left so we stayed in the dorm-style room. We grabbed the last 4 of 5 beds. For dinner we went to a spaghetti place that Rachel really liked (when she was at the Hebrew U ulpan). On Ben Yehuda street that night there was an artist festival or something so there were a lot of street performers. Some guys were breakdancing. Some guys were dressed up as giraffes and standing on stilts. Totally cool. After shopping around a little bit we went to Rachel's favorite bar, Zolli's. Super chill bar with awesome bartenders. One was an Israeli with an Australian accent. Super hott combination. We were joined by Rachel's friend Moriah, and had a really good time at the bar. After the bar we went to Holy Bagels (haha) and I found the Jerusalem Coffee Bean!! The next morning we shopped some more (I picked up some tank tops and some Israeli pants).

When I got back, I had just enough time to shower and read before watching A Mighty Wind with some of the other kids on the Me'onot (dorms) grassy area and then get ready for Shabbos dinner at Eli's apartment. Eli is the Chabad-esque guy for Ben Gurion. He had us over for both Shabbos Dinner and Lunch with his wife and 2 daughters. His daughters are SO cute. Eli isn't too preachy which is nice, and he also plans a lot of activities around Israel for us, so that should be fun. There's a weekend trip up to the Old City soon that I'm going to join. Hopefully we're also going paintballing soon too.

I'm currently finishing up my homework and then I have to find some dinner. Tomorrow I have class (I'm still not quite used to the different week here) and after class a few of us are going to the shuk (market). Tomorrow afternoon I have to make a main dish of some sort for the potluck we're having. I still haven't decided what to make, but I was thinking about making some Mexican food or something. Yum.