IFSA: Diversity and Coexistence

In the fall 2018 semester I had the opportunity to study abroad in Israel with the IFSA Diversity and Coexistence program. I was extremely excited to go to Israel as I had always wanted to go see the country and experience life in the Middle East. IFSA gave me that opportunity and I could not have asked for a better experience! My IFSA support staff in Israel was amazing! Our adviser Monica was like a mom to me and the fellow students on my program. We could ask her anything and she was always there to help us and make sure we were having a great time in Israel in addition to academics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Monica organized excursion trips for us so we could see other parts of the country and meet with local peoples such as the Ethiopian community and the Druze community. I really enjoyed these trips as it exposed me to different peoples and the food was amazing everywhere we went! As a requirement of my program, I had to take either Hebrew or Arabic the entire time I was abroad. I decided to take Arabic and found that the IFSA staff and the Hebrew University staff are very accommodating and excellent as teaching Arabic. I learned a lot about the language and was able to read street signs in Arabic and have an elementary understanding of the language by the end of my time abroad. Learning Arabic was an extremely unique experience and one I was very grateful for. I did not take any Hebrew courses, but from my time living in Israel I did pick up on a few words. Other academic courses besides language at Hebrew University I found to be both interesting and challenging. As a history major I focused on history courses and had some amazing professors and learned a lot about the history if the state of Israel. All the professors I had were very engaging and offered support to their students. The academic side of my study abroad experience was very good as it provided enough challenge while also allowing you to still experience the country on the weekends by not being overloaded with work. The one thing that was not great about my experience was living in the student village at Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. My apartment was not very clean and had a lot of issues with things breaking such as my hot water heater. Things did get fixed, but it took time and the hot water was a recurring issue for my apartment. Other than that, I absolutely loved my time in Israel and would do it all over again if I could! I highly recommend this program!