57 reviews
4.69 / 5 based on 57 reviews
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kefa118
Student life
Describe host city:
Students equally interact with the local and student community
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Travel, Activities: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment
Nightlife: Takes place both within and outside of the university/student environment
Personal social experience
Personal comments
Israel? There is no way anyone could every do EVERYTHING! There's too much! My favorite night spots were the pub in the Gimmel dorms and Forum (talk about a place to meet hot Israelis...). Nafis is probably one of the best restraunts in Beersheva, but its open on Shabbat so its technically not kosher. Every Thursday is a Bedouin marketplace with great stuff. Outside Beersheva, Maccabee Tel Aviv is a fun basketball team to watch, and Maccabee Haifa is my favorite soccer team. In Jerusalem, get over to Ben-Yehuda street. Best shops outside of the Old City. Skiing up north on Mt. Hermon. Rafting on the Jordan river. The Golan is a beautiful place to hike. The promenade (spelling?) in Jaffa along the coast is romantic. Eilat has great snorkling spots that are absolutely beautiful.
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kefa118
Housing
Type of housing: On campus
Arranged by: Host university
If returning, I would choose: On campus
Why?
Actually, I would consider living off campus for the experience, but the dormitories are a safe and secure environment and also allow for easy participation in student activities.
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Personal comments
The dorms are more like apartments. The rooms are either doubles or singles. There is a kitchen space and a living room. The number of bathrooms and fridges depend on the number of rooms attached to the common space (this ranges from 2 to 8). There is no carpet (this is common in Israeli houses!) but the tile keeps the apartment cooler during the hot summer months and is very easy to keep clean. There is no oven, but there is a gas stove. I loved living there!
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kefa118
Expenses
Main source of funding:
Government assistance
Other sources of funding:
A private grant
Work opportunities:
It was not legal for me to work
Personal spending habits
The shekel (the Israeli "dollar") was only 1/5 of the value of the dollar while I was there; however, travel is cheaper in general because mass transportation is so popular and if you stay in hostels when traveling, you'll save a ton! Since I was only staying for one academic year, I didn't want the problems of installing a phone, so I got a cell phone. The cost to call home was, thus, more expensive, then from a landline.
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Telephone:
was more expensive than at home.
Food:
was the same price as at home.
Housing, Nightlife, Travel, Overall:
was less expensive than at home.
Accessibility of student needs
Second-hand household items
Personal comments
Any household items that you need should be bought from the marketplaces, which tend to be cheaper. Don't open a bank account. Just make sure you're debit card will work at the MANY ATMs in Israel. Don't worry about textbooks, because the courses mostly use readers (a compilation of various short readings that the university press puts together).
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kefa118
Academic
Course recommendations
You have to be flexible and understanding. With the security situation in Israel right now, the number of students studying abroad there is down from previous years, so the range of courses has been reduced due to inability to fill the classes enough. The teachers are high quality and challenging, but most realize that the students want more than just an academic experience in Israel. Grades for most courses are based on only two grades, midterms and finals. This is good because your time is not consumed with busy work everyday, but it obviously good have its bad side. The midterms and finals are either exams or papers or some combination of both.
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My academic experiences
Interaction with teachers
Interaction with international students
Interaction with local students
My opinion of the university assessment
Exams throughout the course
Essays and/or projects at the end of course
Essays and/or projects throughout the course
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kefa118
Overall
I wish I had known...
Don't expect anything and keep an open mind. There's no better advice than that when studying abroad. Don't hide among people of your own nationality, but meet the local residents as well as any other people of different cultures you can! This will make your experience life-changing!
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In my opinion:
Everybody loved it, you will too!
Important factors in my choice
(1) Unimportant – (4) Very important
Personal recommendation
Ben-Gurion University is known for having the best student life in Israel, but it is a still a very academic university of world-renown reputation. Some of Israel's most controversial historians call this university home. It's a beautifully designed university. There is even a movie theater on campus for students only at half price (these are brand-new American films most of the time, not stuff from the 80s!). There is a pub on campus and in the dorms, which surround campus. The security is always present, so feel safe! There is a beautiful fence surrounding campus, so you can only enter through guarded gates. The guards are students and very friendly, so don't worry! There are more than enough computer labs and the library is fantastic. On nice days, which is almost everyday, Israeli students sit outside in large numbers, so sit with them and you're sure to make some friends. During the summer months, there is a outdoor campus pool. Tons of fun!
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During my experience abroad, I ...
(1) Never – (4) A lot
Became familiar with another culture
Met people from other countries
Experienced a change in life
Advanced my studies & career
Final comments
This questionnaire left out a few questions that relate specifically to a Jewish state. If attending synagogue is important to you, or just participation in religous or cultural Jewish life, don't worry. There are synagogues everywhere. There is even a Conservative one, which I attended on a semi-regular basis. There are also synagogues of every Jewish ethnicity you can think of. The program is great about inviting rabbis to come and teach (which usually meants free pizza!). These rabbis will even find you a family for shabbat and for chagim (the holidays). If you're non-Jewish, then you might be upset by the lack of non-Jewish religious help from the program. But they do their best!
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kefa118
Languages
Language of instruction: Hebrew
Was learning Hebrew a key decision factor?
Yes, I wanted to improve my Hebrew
How much did you improve your Hebrew?
My level before: Did not speak it
My level after: At ease in most situations
Language difficulties
Administrative / Institutional
Personal comments
When I came to Israeli I only knew some prayer book Hebrew. I came with the main goal of learning to speak Hebrew. There are plenty of opportunities to learn. There are two six-week courses in Hebrew, one in the summer and the other in the winter. During the quarter, Hebrew is offered as a regular language course and is required, unless you are fluent and taking regular university classes in Hebrew. By the time I left Israel, I had moved from the aleph (first) level to the dalet (fourth) level. Now I am doing research that requires reading government debates and newspaper articles from the 1950s, all in Hebrew.
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