Update from Jeruslaem:

My summer semester is coming to an end. I am taking a mini vaction, which will involve me seeing some long lost friends in Western Europe. I am excited.

One of the tricky things about being at HUC is balancing time between hanging out with your classmates and being by yourself. All of the classes, programs, tours, trips are with the same people and it can get very easy to fall into a patter of hanging out with the group and, for lack of a better term, being with a clusterfuck of people. I like my fellow classmates (better than I probably thought I would) but hanging with only Americans and only in a large group can become frustrating and overwhelming.

Also, lest we forget we are talking about some strong personalites here. (I know -- I've got one too) but these people can take themselves very seriously and really like to talk about themselves. They are all deciders, that's what they do decide (some big egos need stroking)

But ... I like these people, I'm going to go to school with them for a while, so I don't want to be a total outsider.

A few things that have helped me with the situation.

1. I have a non-HUC roommate. This makes a huge difference, I'm one of the few people that doesn't have a roommate from HUC and it helps seperate your day between school and home. In fact I live in a neighborhood that is a little bit farther from school, which also limits the number of HUC students living near me -- it's a great neighborhood.

2. No Big Vacations together. During the break (where I'll be in Western Europe) The clusterfuck is heading off the Rhodes and Barcelona, two places I'd love to go, but not with other HUC'ers. Spending 5 days in Rhodes with the same people I see everyday isn't the vacation I need.

3. Guests. I've had 3 already and have other friends that are living here, they are a nice buffer for me when I want to hang with others that are outside of the program.

That's all for now:

Also we know Doron's in Israel: See bottom of article where it talks about Sheff and Henafeld (UCONN's other great israeli star)

http://www.courant.com/sports/custom/calhoungame0812,0,1911004.story?coll=hc-headlines-sports-custom