Statement of Welcome and Purpose

Friends, Family, and Curious Internet Surfers:

Welcome to "Hurta for Haifa," a blog that, despite the sound of its name, is not a campaign website. I thought the name had a nice ring to it, and it does reflect my politically inclined personality. More so, the purpose of this blog is to share my experience while I am stationed in Haifa, Israel to study abroad.

I have been in Haifa about a week now; just the beginning of a 5 month period where I will be away from the United States. I am studying right now in the Hebrew "Ulpan," which is an intensive 4-week course to improve my Hebrew skills. This course ends August 27, and then I will travel some in this area of the globe until the actual semester starts in October. I plan to take Hebrew plus 3 other classes during the semester.

I intend to write reflective and descriptive posts about my time here in Israel. Some of you might know me for my political blogging at the Burnt Orange Report, but this blog will be entirely different (even if I do once or twice opine on Israeli politics). I will not list every little thing I do every day; that would be boring and tedious. Instead, I will write on my general life in Haifa, trips and events that impact me, and anything else that helps communicate the essence of this stay in Israel.

I will later write more significantly on some of the happenings of this first week, but I will let you know that I have been busy and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I have settled into a dormitory-apartment that lacks air conditioning in the Israeli heat, met interesting people, been to a fantastic beach, partied, seen the Bahai Gardens, and (oh yah) learned some Hebrew.

Assuming my busy schedule does not induce the death of this blog, I hope you enjoy what I have to say! Welcome, and thank you for your interest.