Semester's End

Well, it's almost over. After four months in Israel, four out of my five classes were finished this past week with the completion of finals. I had a blast taking every single one of them, and I learned so much. In my Palestinian History class, I learned about the Palestinian struggle for dignity, and I heard the Palestinian's side from Professor Nazzal, a great man and someone deserving of respect and admiration. In Israeli Foreign Policy, I learned the Israeli point of view of the conflict from Professor Medzini, a man in his eighties who was born and grew up in Jerusalem, and remembered and/or fought in every single one of Israel's major wars through the first Lebanon War. In History of the Modern State of Israel, I learned about the Zionist movement and its quest for a homeland after the horrors of the Holocaust from Professor Mendelsson, a quintessential British man who told us many great stories and added a sense of humor to lift our spirits after talking about some heavy subjects. In the Cultural History of Jerusalem, I learned about every stage of development and advancements, along with the many destructions, of this great city from Professor Halevi, a down to earth woman who took us all over the city and showed us many of its wonders. I will miss each professor's unique teaching style as well. Professor Nazzal had a habit of saying "This is very very important" after almost everything he said, causing us to take incredibly extensive notes the first couple of weeks of the class until we realized that everything wasn't, in reality, very very important. Professor Medzini taught his class as if he were simply telling a story. Looking just like Michael Caine, he would sit in a desk at the side of the class and just tell us what happened. I loved how he would tell the personal, behind-the-scenes story along with the official version. For example, in a typical lecture, Medzini would say something along the lines of "And Golda Meir would go over to Dayan and say 'what are you doing?' and Dayan would say 'we need to do this' and Meir would say 'Yofi' and that was that". He had a habit of saying "what are you doing" at least once every lecture. Professor Mendelsson's catchphrase was "And this raises a very interesting question." We'd be discussing an issue, and Mendelsson would interject by saying "Now this raises a very interesting question," which was our cue to pay extra attention and take good notes. Professor Halevi didn't really have any catchphrases, but every lecture she gave, there was a good chance that she'd say something funny. One lecture she reminded me, out of the entire class, to be sure to wear pants for our next field trip. I of course didn't forget such a blatant reminder, so I showed up for our next class as the only one in the class wearing pants, while everyone else wore shorts. I then spent a hard day walking throughout the Old City in very hot weather sweating like crazy, but hey, I wore pants. These classes were a joy to take, and they taught me so much about Israel, the conflict, Jerusalem, and the Jewish and Palestinian peoples. I will miss these professors and their wonderful teaching styles, and I will miss these classes in which I learned so much about such an amazing land.