Home in the Holy Land

The Jerusalem Center! This building is beautiful, definitely the most beautiful place I'll ever live...unless my public relations/piano teacher dreams pay off more than expected (staying hopeful). Tonight we had a fireside where President Brown, the associate director of the center, told us about the long process of building the center. It's the third most expensive building the Church has built, on a piece of land they don't even technically own.


I thought the London Center gave me extreme stair-climbing skills, then I moved here. All we do is climb stairs. Wrong, all we do is eat. But getting to the Oasis to eat involves climbing a lot of stairs, so both can be true. The hallways to our apartments are in open air with no ceilings, so between the main building and my room I'm walking outside. The architect did that to give the center the feel of the Old City.

This is my view from my balcony, constant distraction. The architect's goal was to make the center look like it had always been here, and make it welcoming. It's a stark contrast to our neighbor, Hebrew University. The same architect designed both structures, but Hebrew University wanted to look like a fortress to look intimidating over East Jerusalem.

I'm so excited for the classes! Just not excited for the constant inner struggle of wanting to be out in the city when I have homework, or thinking about my homework when I'm out in the city. But it'll be worth it! My next post will be in Arabic.

Maybe.