The Jerusalem University College Campus was built as a boys school, but has the feeling of a Catholic monastery or nunnery. A small path wide enough for a line of parked cars and one lane to drive leads to the small gate. Inside is a small path between the main building and the newer classroom building, leading to a grass and garden with a view to the south from Mount Zion. The main stairs are mumbo jumbo with 4 to 6 stairs interspersed with landings and doorways. The first main landing leads to offices and the bookstore. THe second has a door to an inner courtyard. Off of the courtyard is a small student lounge, showers, hallways, and the cafeteria dining room. Continuing up the stairs leads up to dorm rooms ending with a door to the roof. The open section of the roof looks south across Gehenna and the Hinnom Valley as well as West to the new city and the King David Hotel. We consider our room very special for it is like an additional room on the top of the roof. It has three bunks, desks, and double lockers, with stone floor and vaulted ceilings adding to the monastery feel.

Sounds are all around. Police sirens are ever blaring. The minarets sound five times a day. Our room windows seem to easily let in the sounds of the roadways at night and the chirp of the birds in the morning. The library is tiny and the space designated for studying has constant humming of activity and chatter of students. The classroom is a bit chilly, though they warm up with body heat and a small radiator which does well as the class periods go on. It is modest with tables and chairs and the echo of the professors sounds off the bare concrete walls. One small window on the front side displays the weather and sometimes an eavesdropping bird.

There are bullet holes in various places from when the Israeli troops occupied the building as an outpost. It would be a very wonderful place for paintball with its courtyard and seemingly random layout of passages, windows, and doorways.

Meals are delicious. I may have been a bit nervous coming from one of the best college food services in the nation, but I am not one bit disappointed. Breakfasts include wonderful eggs, meat, yogurt, granola, and local fruit such as kiwi, oranges, and plums. Lunches and dinners are both American and local enough to meet both demands. Local fish caught from Galilee, lots of rice, tuna from the mediterranean mix with the smells of curry and olive oil. A bowl of olives is almost always present. Would I ask for more?

The The people are wonderful. Dr. Wright is his own academic, yet loving fatherly personality. Mrs. Wright stands beside him beautifully, offering a motherly tenderness to the extent that one knows the door to help or advice would always be open. There are beautiful people here from Guam, Africa, and schools in the States such as Messiah, Gordon, and Westmont. Fellow Minnesota natives abound as the majority rule.

Class tonight was especially engaging, and I presume it will contain my favorite classroom periods. It is Jewish Thought and Practice taught by Rabbi Moshe. He is an energetic wise man in his 50's. He has a clear passion, but a very academic approach to our classroom discussion of God, Torah, and Jewish practice. His education is clearly vast and his knowledge of Torah is very impressive. I expect to be forced through some tough issues and discussion.