Happy New Year!

This past week wasn't as action-packed as its previous friends, however, that doesn't mean it came without its own challenges. After arriving home from the four-day wedding weekend, I had an extensive amount of exams and missed classwork to make up for, and had the Jewish New Year on Saturday. I know I'm breaking a relatively new tradition, but this weekly report won't have three sections as usual. But don't worry, my life is always filled with fun adventures, so let's jump into my week's recap!

All About Me

Picking up off last week's story, I touched down in Dallas, TX, on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. Of course, my flight got delayed, so the late night wasn't entirely planned and was perfect timing for my 7:15 a.m. class the next day (which I may or may not have missed).

All jokes aside, this week's recap is just a little boring because a majority of my free time was spent on homework and working at the coffee shop. Although, I would argue that the topics I've been learning in my classes have been extremely fun. Some of my favorite activities in school recently would be derivatives in Calc, reading ancient Mesopotamian epics in World Literature, learning thermodynamics in Physics, and finishing off the Constitution in American Gov.

It's a lot of coursework, but I'm so intrigued by what I learn in my classes. I feel like every day provides a small, thought-provoking challenge to overcome, and it's truly something I look forward to when I wake up. This is exactly why I'm so excited about college; going to class for three hours, and then spending the rest of my day studying in a local coffee shop genuinely sounds like a dream, but we'll get more into college later in the year.

But of course, when I say later in the year, I mean December of 2023, not Tevet of 5784, which is what the Jewish calendar would read. Speaking of, let's briefly discuss the Jewish New Year, not the technicality, though; this section is just about me.

My dad, brother, sister, and I all attended Synagogue this past Saturday for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Greeted by friends and long-time religious teachers, we spent almost three hours at Temple for the service. If there's something to know about Jewish services, holidays and bar/bat mitzvahs are usually 2-3 hours, but Jewish weddings last 30 minutes max (we've got our priorities straight). Anyway, we ended the service with some apples and honey, a tradition to signify a sweet new year, and took some time to chat with friends. I had so much fun catching up with my community and reminding myself that I needed to brush up on my Hebrew.

p.s. If you want to tell someone Happy New Year in Hebrew, say Shana Tova (Sha-nah Toh-vah) or Shana Tova U'metukah (Oo-meh-to-kah), which means "Have a good and sweet new year".

I know this recap is just a little shorter than its counterparts, but I wanted to take a step back from my usual structure and have a little rant. I'm excited for next week, where we'll discuss Jewish Holiday traditions, Yom Kippur, and my weekend trip to New York.

I'll be back before you know it. Until next week,

- Samantha Stein