We got up properly at 7:15, and after getting ready and putting all our luggage on the bus, we went and had breakfast. Then, everyone got on the bus, usual "Na Na Na Boker Tov" + word of the day, and off we went.
DESTINATION: BE'ER SHEBA.
First stop was Ben-Gurion university, Be'er Sheba campus. It's a nice place: plenty of grounds, although too much of it is concrete. We were given a little promotional PR talk by a professor there, and watched a crappy promotional video. Overall, the talk and the video were rather crappy.
When the talk ended, we were split up into groups, and each group was taken around the Uni by a student currently studying there. Me, Marissa, Tanya, and Deutsch were chosen to go with 'Amir'.
The first place Amir took us to was his office - he's got one coz he's the editor of the student magazine - after he asked us what we wanted to do, and we all said "email". So we went into his tiny office, and we all took turns to check our hotmail, while we chatted with Amir about Uni life and his course.
Amir then took us down to the library lawn (does every uni in the whole world have one of these?), where we sat down and relaxed, and were joined by a few of his uni friends. The two girls sitting next to me were so funny: they were sending SMS's on their phones; and when I asked what they were doing, they said: "Our friend's in an exam, and we're sending him the answers"!
Chilling on the library lawn was, as I said at the time, "fanan". But after a while, we had to leave for our next stop of the day: so we reluctantly got up and wished the Ben-Gurion students goodbye.
Next activity (after another bus ride): tour around the National Air Force Museum. This was a pretty cool tour: started inside (really hot tourguide), and then we went out into the parking lot, and saw hundreds of old Israeli jets and choppers, all lined up for us to look at.
Attempt to lift off, Air Force museumWe took heaps of photos with the IAF planes, especially the ones we could jump into. My favourite jet was one of the MIGs, used in the 6-day war: It was called "007", because an Iraqi pilot defected to Israel in one of them in the 60s, with a remarkable story to go with it.
The famous '007' MIG that an Iraqi defected inAfter the tour of the IAF museum, we drove to a nearby Burger Ranch and had lunch. The queue was enormous, with 37 of us wanting Burgers and fries; but the madrichim paid for all of us upfront, so that made it a bit faster. The food was similar to Burger King back home, but not quite as good as a whopper.
We finished lunch, and then completed our last big bus trip of the tour: the ride to Jerusalem, where we're staying until we leave Jerusalem (and Academy ends :-( ) on Monday. We're staying at Ma'alon Ariel, fairly close to the Old City and the Kotel.
On the bus trip to Jerusalem, we were all given our beautiful Academy 2 jumpers - or as Israelis call hooded jumpers: "kapuchon". They've got a little logo on the front, and a cool-as map on the back with funny pictures at various locations. We're very proud of them, particularly because Academy 1 ain't got nothing as yet!
The modern art museumWhen we reached Jerusalem, we visited the Modern Art museum. We were all really bored there, because we had to see an exhibition of 'sukkahs through the ages' (Woopee). But Asher had been there before, and showed some of us a multimedia exhibition with really cool tiled walls that moved with your movements.
Afer the museum, we checked in to Hotel Ariel, had a rest and a bit of dinner, and then at about 8:30 drove to the night activity: a night at the pub. When we got there, for some reason we couldn't go in straightaway; so while we were waiting outside, Beck and I played a very lame (but very fun) game where we jumped up and down in turn.
The pub we went to was a converted bomb shelter: the entrance above ground looked like a public toilet; and at first I thought that was what it was. We paid 10 NIS to go in, and down below, the party was going very smooth. Both Academy groups took up basically the entire place, which was really just a small bar, some couches, and a very loud DJ and dance floor.
[My account of what happened at the pub has been omitted from this edited version]