SOS. Trapped students in Jerusalem.

It is still too snowy to leave the Jerusalem Center. So while I may be in Jerusalem, I really have only seen the inside of the Jerusalem Center and the drive here on the first day. We do have an amazing view of the old city. I can see the Dome of the Rock from almost every window. 

This is not an amazing view of the old city. But it is a beautiful view of the stairs. Off the right and left of this corridor are our rooms. You actually have to go outside to get to your rooms. The level I am standing on in this photo has the gym, cafeteria (or as we call it here-the Oasis), classrooms, the computer lab, and the student commons 

Here is another amazing photo of my bedroom and my roommate Brooke sitting so photogenically on my bed. Don't mind all the clothes on top of the drawers. There are two other beds, a table, a desk with shelves, and a bathroom in the room. 

When I say it is too snowy, it really means that it is too cold/wet for them to give us an official tour of the city, and we can’t leave this place till we get this official tour of the city. So it is like we are trapped here. Everyone is getting stir crazy. 

While we have been cooped up here we have had 1,000 orientation meetings, two classes, and eaten food. Thursday we were done with scheduled classes/orientations at 3:30 and then had nothing else to do. To pass the time I played Sardines with a group of people and then and did some reading for Near Eastern Studies. While playing Sardines the director of the center- Dr. Whitchurch, asked us what we were doing, when we said what we were playing he responded with “Oh not already!”. Apparently this game isn't new to the Jerusalem Center. 

After dinner we talked, played Mafia, heads up sevens up, and murder in the dark. While playing mafia I was one of the four mafia players. I was the last mafia player left and was about to win the game, when one of the “dead” players secretly told someone I was it and then my victory was gone. Hopefully we get out of this place soon so my posts can start being about Jerusalem. 

I figured this post deserved a picture of the view from the center-because when I wrote this, it was all I had seen so far, so I just went and took a quick photo. This is a photo from today (Sunday) not Thursday when it was snowing and wet.

I see this every day, guys. Every day.