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What is you best advice from your year away? (Food, clothing, sepharim, experiences, travelling, buses, family etc.)
If you can stay afterwards, STAY! For as long as possible!
Go to birchas kohanim all gimmel regalim! If you can’t do that, than at the very least walk to the Kotel on Shavuot morning-it’s indescribable!
Go to vasikin at the Kotel often! Go to the Kotel as often as you can! You won’t regret ever having spent time there!
Beyond that, if you’re not going to have room/weight, don’t use it on seforim-you can either get them from someone who was there the year before, or you can buy them for a lot less than they cost here. Also, I highly reccomend seforim store browsing!!! If you’re going to shlep out to Geula anyways, might as well take advantage…
Just because people say something is a chavaya, doesn’t mean you have to do it. Just because people don’t say something is a chavaya doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Make everything into a chavaya!!!
Be quiet on the bus… Yes, there will be those annoying seminary girls who are chattering in high pitched voices and telling the olam their life stories, but don’t be part of it. Those few give the rest of us a bad name… And we find them jsut as annoying…
LEARN FROM EVERYONE!!!! (I know people don’t like all caps, but this is such an important one) Your roomates, your hosts for shabbos, the old lady on the bus next to you… They all have something you can learn from.
Everyone has a story-nobody grew up in a vaccum. Keep this in mind, and never ever judge, because you can never know the full story just by looking…
Always keep a positive attitude! Don’t underestimate the power of a smile, good morning/boker tov. Get in the habit-say it to everyone-your seminary mates, the bus driver, the man cleaning by the kotel, the people collecting tzedaka. It makes their day!
You probably wanted advice that’s a bit more concrete, sorry about this then. If you ask specifics, I’d be thrilled to help!
Get ready for the most amazing year ever!!! Hatzlacha Rabba! 🙂
Food: It is really expensive in most places in Israel, however, there are ways to at least get cheaper junk food. In Geula, there is a store that has bags of popcorn hanging from the ceiling and they are at a really good price, I usually get the 14 shekel popcorn, and I buy sunflower seeds for my junk food most of the time and the popcorn lasts me about a week.
Clothing: If you need to purchase clothing, you should do it in Geula because it is much cheaper there. I have needed to purchase tights and skirts (after leaving the first seminary that I was at, a bunch of my skirts went missing, so I only had six skirts and they were the ones I never liked to wear/ packed because my mom wanted me to wear colorful clothing in Israel… so I have bought some replacement skirts in geula).
Sefarim: If your school gives you a list of what you will need to purchase before going and you see that you already own some of the seforim you need, then you should bring the ones you already own so that you don’t have to spend as much money on sefarim. Some schools have the option of borrowing sefarim you need for class for a token fee, but those ones might not be in such great condition.
Traveling: You should make the best out of your seminary year by visiting different parts of Israel on shabbosim. I spent a shabbos with my friend in Haifa, and even though it was expensive to take the bus there, it was totally worth it because I had an amazing experience. Just keep in mind that since you are in Israel, that busses need to stop with enough time for the drivers to get ready for shabbos, so make sure you leave early when going out for shabbos.
Buses: See traveling.
Family: Make sure to see your family! They most likely want to see you! Even though I am not so close to my relatives that live in Israel, a bunch of my cousins planned their visits for this year because I am here in seminary. That also makes it easier to have people bring me things that I need…
I hope this helps.
How much you spend per month depends on you-if you walk a lot vs. taking the bus, go shopping, buy a lot of food, go out to eat, etc.
Personally, I spent less than $100 per month, but i had friends who spent double the amount. But to be fair, I walked most places, and the money was mine that I earned, and it wasn’t unlimited, so I was a lot more careful… depends really on a few things: you and your spending habits, your financial situation, and if you’re willing to give up american products and buy cheaper israeli things, which for the record, are NOT inferior! Just not what you’re used to.
Laundry-depending if you have to pay for the washing machine, how often you do laundry, if you wash stuff buy hand… Several friends and I bought a basin (about 3 shek each) and a thing of hand washing detergent, and that saved quite a bit.
When you budget, keep in mind gifts for your shabbos hosts, transportation for shabbos, and all those little things that add up
There will be months you spend more (ie adar, and the rainy months when you don’t want to walk) and months that you spend less.
What i found worked very well was to set out half the money i brought, say i’m only spending that, and divide it up into even amounts for the months. this way, in a month i spent less, ihad money for a month i spent more, and i had money to fall back on if needed, so that i came back with money left…
I was at Darchei Binah Sister school and I had to pay $50 for dorm utility fee to get supplies to use to clean the dorm when it was my toranut job and $150 for laundry fee for the privilege of doing two loads of laundry a week while I was there.
If you need to provide yourself with multiple meals a day, then I would say you would need $100 a week so that you aren’t starving…
1) How did you raise enough money to cover all your spending money in sem?
2) What cell phone plan is the best in EY in terms of service and price?
nanny- try the talk n’ save plan. It’s pricey, but there are a few options to choose from.
talkn’save.net
I have a number of connections…
Yes, the dorm utility and laundry fees are the same for darchei binah.
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