Reflections on Leaving Jerusalem and Room 633

A lot of things are changing here.  In the past few days, I’ve had my last yeshiva classes (but I want to come back to study here another time), my last Nativ Learners’ Minyan, and my last stress-free day in my room.  I’ve started packing, and will need to finish today.  Tonight is my last Erev Nativ.  Tonight is my last night in my room, my last night in my bed, my last night of being the roommate of Leah and Suzanne.

There is a lot I’m going to miss here.

I will never forget this place.  Room 633 is full of great memories: throwing the long Ethernet cord around until we got wifi; Suzanne being too tall for her corner of the room; our chair hidden by clothes; yelling at Leah to open a window when she puts on perfume; our friends coming in and using our room as theirs; the complaints about how loud my water bottle is; so many kfar girls congregating here when taking pictures on Thanksgiving; and the times when Suzanne, Leah, and I are just laying in our beds, talking and laughing.  Room 633 will forever be my home.

In spite of the crazy packing I have to do (separate things packed for break, Poland, South tiyul, and the kfar), I’m excited.  Tomorrow morning, I leave for Rechovot.  I’m spending the night in Ashdod, reuniting with the JCC day camp counselor who stayed at my house for two summers.  The next day and night, I will be in Tel Aviv, and then I come back to Jerusalem to spend Shabbat with my cousins’ friends.  Saturday night, as well as a few more nights during break, I will stay at Beit Nativ.  Saturday night I will be back in 633, but with Leah and Suzanne away, it won't really be our room.  After then, I will be in a different room, and with the construction in my building, no one will ever sleep in my 633 again.

I’ll try to keep you posted on what I do during break, in Poland, for our Israel Today Seminar, and in the south, but I might not get around to posting for a few weeks.

Trivia: In the next few weeks, I’m going to many places I have never been.  I hope to say that after this I truly know Israel.