By Mia Stein
After arriving in Israel and settling into our dorms and apartments in Jerusalem, everyone was excited and ready to get started on this incredible journey. Along with Nachshon programming, we had Ulpan every day for a month. We had the incredible opportunity to learn a new language and fully immerse ourselves in it. Our Ulpan classes were taught completely in Hebrew no matter what your level of Hebrew was when you landed in Israel. When all you do is learn, listen and speak Hebrew for 8 hours a day, every day, you develop a new love for the language. Although at times it was tough to focus or difficult to make it through that last hour at the end of the day, we supported each other through it all and came out with a greater understanding and appreciation for the language. I watched as my Nachshon peers gained new skills and how they lit up when they had the opportunity to share what they had learned that day in class. Coming to a country where you don’t speak the language at all can be scary, but Ulpan helped us greatly with that fear. Because we jumped right in when we got here, there was no need to be afraid. Ulpan provided everyone with the basic Hebrew we all needed to make it through that first month in Israel. Ulpan was an experience that was new for everyone and not only helped our Hebrew skills but brought us together as a cohort. We all understood the challenges and embraced the difficulties, together. After a long day of separate classes and constant learning, we were able to come together and blow off some steam. When one of us received an A on a Hebrew quiz, it almost felt as if we had all gotten that A together. Ulpan was an amazing first leap onto this rollercoaster of a semester we were about to embark on.
