Classes, Gas Masks, and So Much More

So my first day of school was last week and it was all pretty typical...if you live in Israel. First, I was sitting on a bench with my friends (one of whom is in the Israeli Army) and a guy walked by with 4 boxes that had leather straps on them, and they were hanging on his neck. The boxes were a little bigger than a typical shoe box. Anyways, my friend who is in the army bet us that we wouldn't be able to guess what was in these boxes. I guessed that there were religious Jewish icons in there that some campus group was passing out. Someone else guessed that maybe it was food. Nope. You know what was in there? Gas masks.

The guy with the boxes told us that they were handing them out for free to all of the Israeli students. So he took one for him and three more for his family.

A couple of days later, we get a text from the school that says this: "Hi guys, Tomorrow at 10am sirens will be heard at the area of Ramat Aviv as part of a military exercise. Do not panic =)"

We were then told that if the sirens lasted 180 seconds it was an actual emergency and we would need to go to the nearest bomb shelter. Luckily, I live right by one of the biggest in Tel Aviv. There is a theater by me that sits on a public square. Under that square is a massive bomb shelter that can hold over 1,000 people. Seriously. Check it out: http://www.haaretz.com/news/tel-aviv-opens-massive-new-bomb-shelter-under-national-theater-1.844.

Then today I woke up to an email from my Mom telling me that the American news is reporting that Israel is talking about launching an attack against Iran. I don't know what scares me more...the thought of being here for the inevitable counter attack or the thought of having to be in an underground bomb shelter for an extended period of time. Yea, I'm that claustrophobic.

On a lighter note, I am really enjoying my classes and we are still having so much fun getting to know Tel Aviv! We've been going to a ton of school events and meeting all of the new people who are a part of the overseas school. It will be a good and eventful year!