Hostel Environment

My new home in Israel? Hayarkon 48 youth hostel. This spot is $20 per night for a dorm room bed in a room with a fan. I've been sleeping outside on the bench on my balcony with my sleeping bag and pillow instead of my top bunk bed - paying 1 shekel for a locker for my valuables and eating free toast and jelly in the morning for breakfast. There are tons of Americans, Canadians and english speakers staying here. Everyone goes to party on the Port instead of venturing to Tel Aviv's underground scene but it's been a blast to meet other travelers and to see where people are headed next. But boy, what a tiny world. I've met people that know friends from Madison, went to school in Madison, lived in the Bay Area, studied in Prague and more. Crazy world we live in, i'm half way across the world in the middle east and seeing people I know! Lauren Wein, a girl I know from growing up, is doing an ESL teaching english program here and Adam Kittai is in med school here! We may meet up and go hiking up around the golan heights in a few weeks. Crazy.