Students have arrived

Just some reflections on the past week. The students arrived on Wednesday afternoon. All  of us had been busy Monday/Tuesday preparing for their arrival. Amazingly, for the first time in I don't know how long, all of the students were on 1 flight. The worst situation, was probably last semester when there were about 9 flights!!
Anyway, even this time there was a glich - wouldn't be Jerusalem without. :)
For some reason, the airlines had to change planes and the new plane was short 3 seats. Who got put on standby? 3 of our students. Who made the flight? 2 of the 3. One young man had to spend the night in New York and take the same flight the following day. That means he missed all of the orientation that we give the students. It also meant that one of our faculty had to make a second trip to the airport to pick him up. Ah, well - he did arrive safe and sound.

As soon as the students arrived we sent them into the Auditorium for a 30-minute orientation. Then we divided them into small groups and took them on a tour of the building. I think they probably remembered 2 things from that tour - where the cafeteria is and where their apartment is. Jet lag erased anything else!
We had dinner with the students that evening in the Oasis. It was fun to have them here and to be eating Center food again - it is GOOD!

Thursday morning, bright and early, we had another orientation meeting followed by a 4-hour walk from the Center, through the Old City, to West Jerusalem. Vans brought us back to the Center in time for lunch. [The faculty/staff did this same walk on Tuesday so that we would remember the route to take the students. I knew I could do the walk but boy was I TIRED! -- both days]

More orientation in the afternoon, headsets distributed, committee chairs & advisors introduced. I am the advisor over the Snack Bar committee. Should be fun.

The In-Center activities committee held a get-aquainted party in the gym after dinner. We collapsed in our apartment. Thank heavens Friday was very low-key and we could recuperate.