Around the World With Dartmouth Women's Soccer - Fourth Installment

All-Ivy sophomore forward Maggie Goldstein (Hillsborough, Calif.) has been seeing the sites and studying hard in Israel, but takes a break to check in with us.

Shalom... from Israel!

So far, my time in Israel has been amazing. For the first two weeks of my trip I was traveling up and down the country; seeing different cities, sites, towns, and people. I started in Tel Aviv for a few days--explored the city and began to adjust to Israeli life. From Tel Aviv I went to the North and stayed on a kibbutz that sits right on the Sea of Galilee--it is a beautiful place that is full of Jewish and Christian history. For three days the kibbutz was my base and from there I tried to reach as many different areas of the North that I could. I traveled through towns on the coast--Ein Hod, Zichron Yaakov, Akko, and Haifa. Later I made it to the tip top of the country to a town called Metulla that is right on the border with Lebanon. There are huge gates, Israeli soldiers, and U.N patrollers that watch the border at all times. I explored the Golan Heights and drove along the Syrian border and also saw Druze villages, Tzfat, Tiberias, and Nazareth. Israel is a tiny country so it is easy to reach several cities each day, but every city is so different! Akko for example is on the coast and is primarily and Arab-Israeli fishing town. The Druze villages are in the hills near Syria and are occupied by Druze people who have a secret religion and don't really consider themselves Israelis or Syrians. Nazareth is a mix of Christian and Muslims and is the home of some of the most important Christian sites in the world. The three days in the North gave me quite a lot to digest but as my time in Israel has progressed I have realized that seeing all of those cities and towns made me understand Israel so much more--the history, the diversity, the conflict, and the landscape.

After the North I took a bus down to Eilat, which is the Southernmost point of the country--right near Egypt and Jordan. Even the bus ride was an experience. I sat next to a soldier who spoke broken English but tried to teach me Hebrew (I was even taking notes). And driving through the desert and bedouiin villages was like driving on the moon. In Eilat I went scuba diving for a day in the Red Sea (amazing coral reefs) and then went to Petra, Jordan. Petra was one of the most amazing sights I have seen in my entire life. This is where Indiana Jones was filmed! Petra is a town thousands of years old that is carved into huge walls of rock. the detail is amazing and the magnitude is breathtaking. For me, interacting with the Jordanians that cater to the tourists selling memorabilia and camel rides was just as neat as seeing the sites.

After Eilat it was finally time for me to head to Jerusalem--my home for the rest of my term. I stayed with a friend in Jerusalem before my studies started so really got to experience a Jewish-Israeli family and the life in Jerusalem. I love it. Shabbat, food, the people, the language... every aspect seems so rich. After a week with my friend I moved into the dorms at Mt. Scopus?Hebrew University. For the past two plus weeks I have been learning Hebrew in an intensive language program called Ulpan. It is five hours every morning five days a week?the equivalent of a college week's worth of material each day. I am learning the language pretty quickly but I still wish I could speak with more ease! Hopefully that will come with time. I am volunteering at a community center twice a week--hanging out with kindergardeners who have a bigger vocabulary than I do (or at least with animals and colors) and several times a week I venture into the city--especially the amazing outdoor market to buy apples, oranges, persimmons, pita, hummus, cucumber, pomegranate... and more.

And Soccer!! Everyone here loves soccer so much. There are about 10 soccer channels and every outdoor basketball court has soccer goals so people are playing all the time. It is funny though because the Israelis and Arabs are not used to girls who play soccer. Every time I tell someone that I play they are shocked. There is a group of us from the Ulpan that play 5 v 5 throughout the week and sometimes a group of Arab guys play with us too! Playing with them is the best way to break down cultural boundaries--I love it. The other day we played for two hours into the dark--so far it has been the highlight of my week--lots of shouting and cheering and scraped knees. So much fun! A few nights ago I went to the Beitar Jerusalem vs. Haifa soccer match at the stadium here in Jerusalem. Everything was going great (the fans are unbelievable) until 8 minutes into the game when all the lights in the stadium shut off. I could not believe it and at first I was really scared! Apparently something like this has never happened. They couldn't get the lights back on so they had to cancel the game. I am now looking forward to the rescheduled match.

I have made a lot of Israeli friends and have been spending time with them almost every afternoon/night. I have met all of their families and have started to feel very at home here. My friends and their families have all welcomed me so much--I've started to notice that I don't really feel like a tourist anymore. I have gotten to know all the best local food places and I am starting to know my way around a lot of the Jewish neighborhoods.

After the Ulpan finishes in two weeks I will spend an extra week in Jerusalem seeing more sites, living the life, and traveling around with friends. Then I leave Jerusalem and head to Berlin to visit Jenny Stone and then to Barcelona to see Myra Sack and Kelsey Quick! I can't wait to reconnect with my teammates.. I really do think about Dartmouth and the team everyday.

I can't believe I am already more than halfway done with my term... It is really flying by. I hope everyone at home and at Dartmouth is doing great!

L'heetraot!