Re-Entering Student-hood

Now that I'm about a month into my graduate school education, my creative writing juices have once again begun to flow (also out of necessity as I have to get re-used to writing papers).  I'm back in a position where I am asked to think creatively - unlike in my work - and my brain is being used in such a way that it has not been used to working.  I'm enrolled in Hebrew University as an M.A Candidate for Communication with a focus in Internet and New Media.  While conceptually this a really interesting and relevant field, my hardship in this situation is that all my classes are in Hebrew. My past year and a half in Israel has given me the general feeling that my Hebrew has gotten just past the point of functional, and I even sometimes surprise myself with the level of fluency with which I catch myself speaking.  However, being in an institution where I'm learning loads of new information (putting aside the fact that haven't been a registered student for 5 year – although, I do recognize student-like aspects in the "everyday") all in a language that is not my mother-tongue is adding a whole new layer to the learning experience.  Obviously I'm having a lot of new experiences and really for myself, I thought it would do me some good to document what I'm going through.

I remember on my first day how much like a deer in the headlights I felt.  I'm walking around a new campus with people that I don’t know and I'm surrounded by a language that I still need to pay special attention to in order to understand.  As I had previously publicized, I even found myself on the wrong campus at the end of that first day which resulted in my showing up an hour late to the first of that class which was literally on the other side of town.  In my "regular life" I feel pretty competent in my day-to-day (not showing up to the wrong office or apartment) as it would make sense for a regular 27 year old.  However, this new environment is completely humbling and constantly reminding me of how much more I have to learn and that not everything in life comes easily.  (As much as it is super clear, I feel the need to point out that I'm describing a set of relative "white girl problems" and I understand that there exist problems that are obviously more serious - but that’s not what this is about). 

I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that my fellow classmates have been specifically really nice.  People are going out of their way to welcome me and make me feel welcomed.  Each time I get to know someone new from my classes and I reintroduce myself, they all say "I remember your name and who you are " – I don’t think that it is indicative of the fact that I’m special, but rather that clearly I stick out a bit as a non-native Israeli.

Despite my general feeling of anonymity as I walk around, one day someone stopped in in the hall.  She recognized me from my work and literally started quizzing me about why she wasn’t offered the position for which she had applied after she had interviewed a few weeks prior.  I was a little thrown off with 1, being put on the spot like that and 2, with the fact that she remembered me enough to recognize me in a sea of people trying to find their way. 

What does give me the sense of being a “real person” and, while I’m in this bubble, remembering that I have a life outside, is when I randomly bump into people that I know from beforehand.  When possible I try and meet up with friends in between classes just so I can be reminded briefly of the person I know myself to be. 

One of the things I love - and my chosen track certainly lends itself to this - is the juxtaposition of certain popular cultural aspects that I'm familiar with from my layman lifestyle that are showing up in my classes.  For example, in one class we watched a half an hour clip of the movie "2001 A Space Odyssey." In another class we watched a 10 minute compilation of the "I'm a mac and I'm a pc" commercials.  Today we watched and studied the "leave Britney alone" clip - or Meme as I’ve now learned it to be called - from Chris Crocker (http://youtu.be/kHmvkRoEowc  in comparison to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiqkDm9UoKo&list=PL852844F97E22E2AA). Being able to analyze Facebook or SnapChat in a classroom setting adds a sense of lightness to the fact that I'm working towards a Master’s degree. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how all of these will play out in the end.  Will I get to the point where I feel fluent enough to express myself in Hebrew as I would have felt in English? Will I actually feel like I’ve learned and understood enough to earn as opposed to just receive my Masters? Will being in this immersed environment give me a better understanding of Israeli culture and my fellow Israeli cohorts? I certainly hope the answer will be ‘yes’ to at least most if not all of these questions... But I'm definitely excited about the journey getting there.